Moon On A Rainbow Shawl

West Yorkshire Playhouse,Leeds/Touring

3 Stars

Lauded as a breakthrough for black British writing when it premiered in 1958, Talawa Theatre Company's revival of Moon On A Rainbow Shawl at times feels like a period piece with little to offer modern audiences by way of fresh insight.

It's a preserved-in-aspic quality that Errol John's Trinidadian kitchen sink play should have been able to avoid given that many of its key themes - the need to emigrate to improve prospects, desperation borne of poverty and limited educational opportunities - remain relevant.

That's the case with the play's protagonist Ephraim (Okezie Morro), a trolley bus driver dreaming of a better life in Liverpool, whose prospects of self-betterment are contrasted with the fates of those around him.

Thus Charlie Adams (Jude Akuwudike) is brought low after his chance to be a professional cricketer was ended by institutional racism, his young daughter Esther (Tahirah Sharif) is bright and ambitious but her prospects of attending high school are limited by poverty and Rosa (Alisha Bailey), Ephraim's gentle partner, loses her innocence when she becomes pregnant.

Light relief is offered by Mavis (Bethan James), a prostitute in the rundown backyard where the action takes place, and her fiance Prince (Ray Emmet Brown).

The two help break the tension of this slow-burning production, which evokes life in 1950s Trinidad with snatches of Calypso music, period costume and the constant background hum of cicadas.

With powerful performances throughout, and a climax that has an almost Steinbeckian resolve, it's just a shame that the parallels with contenporary migration aren't teased out more.

Tours until April 12. Details: www.talawa.com

Susan Darlington