What a Guy

Joe Guy is a triumph for director Femi Elufowoju jr. and is a truly moving play for anyone who has ever felt like they don’t belong or felt like they have lost themselves. Roy William’s script allows the audience to become emotionally invested in the play with his unabashedly blunt storyline concerning the trials of being a black man with African roots in Britain.

The play begins with a glimpse of Joe Guy’s life. He is famous, good looking and knows it. After a black out, we are taken back in time to Joe’s life as an adolescent. Joe is relentlessly teased for being a Ghanaian amongst the other black people in London who are of Caribbean descent. He has a soft air to him as an adolescent; he is sweet and pensive and treats women with respect.

Joe, then Joseph, also happens to be a very good football player. The play chronicles the unraveling of his Ghanaian identity as his reputation as a footballer gets stronger. He finds himself in a world of superficiality, drugs and women until a rape charge costs him his reputation and his remaining personal relationships.

Thematically, the play explores the consequences incurred when somebody tries to be someone they are not. Joseph must learn to reconcile his heritage, what his father refers to as ‘pure’ black, with a more dominant Caribbean culture. After enduring endless mockery, Joseph tries to reform his speech and mannerisms in order to fit into this different social construct, even changing his name from Joseph to Joe. Only after he has successfully integrated himself, does he realize what has been lost.

The play also explores the importance of one’s roots. Joe must return to his father and childhood girlfriend, Naomi to fully understand what has been lost in his social evolution. Joe’s heritage certainly alienates him as an adolescent but in different ways it alienates him even more so as an adult.

Abdul Salis plays a fantastic Joe, he endears himself so much to the audience as an adolescent that one still feels compassion for him as the play unfolds and his life seems to resemble a train wreck.