Shifters: a fierce new romance by Benedict Lombe now on at The Duke of York’s Theatre

Dre turns around and sees Des standing at the doorway. He looks at her — almost in a daze: this is the moment he has yearned for. Des returns Dre’s gaze, and there they stand — suspended in time — eye to eye and a world in between them. Eventually, Des is the first to avert her eyes and, looking down, rubs her sweaty palms against her thighs, calming her nerves. There is a pregnant pause, full of promise: entangled pasts and unknown futures find common ground, here, in the present. Des lifts her right hand and exposes her palm, stretching her five fingers out in a static yet certain and recognisable greeting.  Dre’s gaze remains, unwavering, on Des as the address “hi” escapes cautiously from her lips. Another momentary silence. Des gently lifts her head, once again returning Dre’s gaze. Dre mimics Des’s body language: his right hand lifts towards the sky and lingers slightly above his head; his palm raises to face Des and, with fingers outstretched, he somewhat awkwardly, hesitantly, nervously, waves his hand. “Hi”, he returns softly. 

This is not where the play begins, but where Benedict Lombe’s story of love, grief and longing starts in earnest. Over the course of the performance, we will return to this initial greeting again and again – a salutation-turned-motif moving the play outside of linear time. Dre narrates the love story that ensues: “Two little Black kids, destined to oppose each other, push each other, shift each other, until they could be formed again.”

Tosin Cole (Dre) Heather Agyepong (Des) © Marc Brenner.

Shifters, currently on at The Duke of York’s Theatre following a sold-out first run at Bush Theatre, is the story of Dre and Des: two childhood friends who reunite at the wake of Dre’s Nana after eight long years apart. Dre has remained in the town they grew up in and now owns a restaurant, whilst Des has fulfilled her dream and is now a working artist and illustrator in New York. 

Shifters serves as a beautiful meditation on the love and healing that is possible when we allow ourselves to truly be perceived and to perceive, whilst weaving together a tale of romance that does not shy away from the challenges and realities of loving, growing and learning as a Black (specifically, dark-skinned) person in the world today. Written by award-winning Congolese British playwright Benedict Lombe and directed by BAFTA-nominated director Lynette Linton, Shifters is only the third play by a Black British playwright to be staged in the West End. 

Dre (played by Tosin Cole) is a Nigerian-British man that initially presents as jovial, but it soon becomes apparent that his humorous nature is – in part – a defence mechanism used to deflect from the grief, pain and heartache that he has experienced over the course of his life. Des (played by Heather Agyepong), a Congolese-British woman, appears to be more serious. Where Dre is keen to find distractions from his pain, Des is eager to move beyond the surface. She frequently asks the difficult and sometimes philosophical questions that might reveal what lies beneath. However, things are not that simple. Both Dre and Des are multifaceted people, struggling with their wounded inner children, trying to find their purpose in the world. In many ways, Dre and Des are perfect foils for each other, exposing both the light and the shadow within themselves through their connection. 

Lombe’s play adopts a disjointed narrative sequence; Dre and Des’ meandering lives unfold on the stage in a loop, slowly building their shared worlds for the audience through vignettes dispersed across various pivotal moments in their shared history. We meet Dre and Des where they first met: as teenagers and two of the only Black students at their school in a debating class, and put together the jigsaw pieces of their connection as they build a friendship, let their guard down, pursue their dreams and experience heartbreaking pain and life-affirming love. We witness them become adults who follow the messy turns of fate (or chart their own destinies), both committed to pursuing their goals – first together, and then apart, until life brings them together again. 

Heather Agyepong (Des) Tosin Cole (Dre) © Marc Brenner.

The character-driven plot is brought to life by Alex Barry’s perfectly sparse set design. Boxes serve multiple functions: practically as stools, but also as archives of love that Des and Dre will rummage through at various points in their relationship, drawing out memories that help us all to make sense of their shifting inner worlds.

In this tender exploration of love and the complex realities of what it means to truly be seen and to see, Shifters explores ‘what was, what should have been and what could still be’. The air between Dre and Des is perfumed by the scent of bittersweet longing; ‘almosts’ and ‘maybes’ hang heavy, like nearly ripefruit desperate to be plucked. This is part of the brilliance of the play. Shifters is not about perfect, neat endings, but rather, is a tale of the love, loss and yearning that defines the human experience. 

The cast and creatives of Shifters expertly share a narrative specific to the lives of the Black characters, but that is also universal in its sentiment. Indeed, the play asks us to consider how different it all could be if we could go back in time and do things differently, but how hollow our lives might be without taking the risk to love and be loved. 

Tosin Cole (Dre) Heather Agyepong (Des) © Marc Brenner.

What is interesting about Shifters’ transfer to the West End is how the audience seem liberated from their traditional role as passive spectators and join together as a chorus to provide ad libs on pivotal moments through laughter, tears and the occasional deep sigh of disbelief. Whilst the West End is a place that draws less diverse audiences than Bush Theatre (where the play was originally staged), it is delightful to see swathes of Black people – some who had travelled from France purely to watch the show – come together to quench their thirst for a Black British romance story. It goes to show just how true Benedict Lombe’s comments are on why Shifters is a story for now:

“Now more than ever, we need a tapestry of stories that allow us to see everyone in their full humanity. We need depictions of romantic leads that redefine the ‘norm’. We need stories about connection and healing that help us to remember how powerful it is to meet each other in the middle.”

Date: Shifters runs at until 12 October 2024. Running time: Running Time 100mins, no interval. Location: The Duke of York’s TheatreSt Martin's Ln, London WC2N 4BG. Price: from £20. shifterstheplay.co.uk 

Review by Adwoa Owusu-Barnieh