Of crime, fatherhood, family and sons - Top Boy S02 / A Number
The Summerhouse posse is back, with Ashley Walters, Kano, Little Simz and Micheal Ward, while the brilliant "A Number" with Paapa Essiedu and Lennie James is running until tomorrow at the Old Vic.
Top Boy S02
On Netflix, from today
Dushane ( Ashley Walters) and Sully ( Kane Brett Robinson a.k.a Kano) are back with the rest of their Summerhouse posse, led by the tough-as-nails tomboyish lieutenant Jaq (Jasmine Jobson).
Things are different from Season 1. Dushane is now living a more than comfortable life, cultivating the fruits of the very profitable drug trade, while continuing and nurturing his relationship with Shelley (Simbiatu Abisola Abiola Ajikawo a.k.a Little Simz).
Sully, on the other hand, is living isolated, haunted by the fact that he had to murder his friend Driss (Shone Romulus) at the end of Season 1 and he is trying, or at least thinking of leaving the life of the drug kingpin behind him. The appearance of his niece Pebbles, played by Erin Kellyman (recently seen as antagonist Karli Morgenthau in the MCU’s Falcon and the Winter Soldier) will bring him, however, back in the dangerous game.
Jamie (Micheal Ward) is also back, out of prison, thanks to Dushane and therefore he is now expected to show loyalty and his allegiance to his former enemy, who engineered his imprisonment.
Jamie knows that he has responsibilities towards his younger brothers, Aaron (Hope Ipkoku Jnr) and Stefan (Araloyin Oshunremi), and therefore is torn between his pride and ambitions and the fact that they rely on him. His imprisonment changes the dynamics between him and his younger brothers deeply, straining their relationship, while the temptations of power are always there: his journey to Spain and Morocco to fix issues with Dushane’s business will influence him strongly, while Sully will develop a certain animosity towards him. Who is the friend and who is the enemy?
Family and loyalty are a problem for Jaq as well, in the relationship with her sister, Lauryn (Saffron Hocking), and also for Shelley, as mysteries of her past come back to haunt her. It is a recurring theme, particularly felt in this season and seen also in the dynamic between Dushane and his mother. The power of the women in this second season is something else, with complex, nuanced, strong, and empathetic characters, who navigate themselves between all the responsibilities that they are carrying on their shoulders and the dangers that are always behind the corner, for them and their loved ones.
What makes Top Boy such a compelling drama is how it goes beyond the simplicity around the criminal element, analysing instead the roots and the context behind it. Poverty, lack of opportunities, discrimination, the hostile environment policies on immigration of the Home Office, and the impact of gentrification of communities are much stronger elements in the show than any violent scene.
After all, the criticism towards series focused on the criminal element is nothing new. In the Italian context, the series Gomorrah and Romanzo Criminale were both criticised for glamourising violence. However, in certain parts of Italy and the United Kingdom, as well as elsewhere, violence is an element, but if the socio-economic context around it is not considered, alongside institutional racism and the impact of austerity measures specifically felt in the British context, then the conversation is left to conservative pundits and their hateful and, frankly, racist narrative of “Black on Black crime”. The life of the Summerhouse posse is not idealised, far from it. The brilliant director Ken Loach directed in 2002 Sweet Sixteen, a movie focused on knife crime in Glasgow (which was never labeled as white on white crime, for instance) that was inserted in a certain socio-economic frame, certainly not one full of opportunities.
A great cast and a great soundtrack also call for great directors, and on this, this second Netflix season of Top Boy delivers, with Reinaldo Marcus Green, director of the highly successful King Richard with Will Smith (who is eyeing at an Oscar after his BAFTA as Leading Actor) and Aneil Karia, director of The long goodbye, written with and starring Riz Ahmed.
Family dynamics, crime, gentrification, new enemies, great performances: all these elements make this second season of Top Boy a great one and we can only start looking forward to the next one. The series is streaming, in its entirety on Netflix, from today.
A Number
Old Vic Theatre - ends tomorrow
Six years after the “birth” of the sheep Dolly, the play “A Number” by Caryl Churchill premiered at the Royal Court Theatre in London, directed by Stephen Daldry and starring Michael Gambon and Daniel Craig respectively as a father and his son, or better, a number of his sons.
Twenty years have passed and this play on fatherhood, sons, and clones is back, with Lennie James ( The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead) and Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy you, Gangs of London) respectively as Salter, the father, and B1, B2, and Michael, some of Salter’s sons.
James and Essiedu shine in their on-stage chemistry as father and son, with the former who brings a very compelling performance as a father who is revealing dark secrets and fundamentally crushing the sons’ world, in different ways. The latter instead changes in both outfits and personalities, shifting in his emotions, approaches, and demeanors suddenly and deeply.
The sins of the fathers and the effects on the son shift from scene to scene, between the defensiveness of Salter and the attempts of the sons in finding truth, acknowledgment, and, at the end of the day, love and approval, while the background changes, with the scintillating lights, between some moments of humor and a deep, grim general undertone.
The play is directed by Lindsey Turner, director and an Associate Director of the National Theatre, and runs until tomorrow. You may find the tickets for the last three performances, today and tomorrow here: https://www.oldvictheatre.com/availability/watch-at-the-theatre/a-number.
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