The Boy by Joakim Daun. Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D to 4th November 2023.

4****: William Russell.

Daniel is a refugee from an unspecified country who has met a boy called Emilio, also from wherever it is, and takes him under his protection – the authorities appear to take him as the boy’s father. We see what happens as the pair face up to authority, to getting refugee status so that Daniel can work – menial cleaning jobs only it seems – and the boy must go to school. They meet a young woman called Liz who has lost her baby – Daniel becomes her cleaner. She takes an interest in the boy being, of course, a much more suitable person to look after him in the eyes of authority, and a battle ensues between the two adults with the boy in the middle playing his own game.

The play begins annoyingly with the boy jigging round the stage while the audience is still assembling and one’s heart sinks but it all comes in to focus with the arrival of Daniel (Jermone Ngonadi) and his taking the boy (Eva von Elgg in a stunning professional debut) under his wing, pretending that he is the father as far as authority is concerned. We know about refugees, about migrants fleeing from troubled lands, about unaccompanied children but once here much less about what happens and the value of the play is it tells, not perfectly perhaps but with sincerity, just that, how they need to adjust and yet retain their past. All the women they meet are played by Shereen Roushbaiani and clearly by design they are all the same woman in terms of performance – well meaning, uncomprehending at times, sticking to the rules laid down by society to deal with the likes of the Boy. Emilio meanwhile is not a passive pawn in the adult’s game – he knows what he wants, he knows how to persuade people to let him have it. What Daniel gives him is continuity – they come from the same country, they speak the same language, while Liz offers him that mother figure, the one nobody dare tell him is dead. And everyone has lost something or someone. It has been directed with care by Maria Jose Andrade who is well served by her cast with Eva von Elgg, who identifies as they, creating an wonderfully annoying, but deeply sad yet resilient child at the centre of this battle between the two adults.

Cast

Eva von Elgg – The Boy.

Jerome Ngonadi – The Man.

Shereen Roushbaiani – The Woman.

Creatives

Director – Maria Jose Andrade.

Set Designer – Erin Guan.

Sound Designer – Ophir Burton.

Dramaturg - Neil Gritchfield.