The Black T-Shirt Collective

Inua Ellams is a Fringe First winning storyteller, but he really should break out into t-shirt design. His descriptions of the slogans and motifs created by two foster brothers for their homegrown t-shirt range are the most compelling thing about this one-man show, which moves from a market in Nigeria to a sweatshop in China. Their inscriptions ‘blaze in the eyes of the Cairo youth’. Buyers are ‘romanced by the roughness of it all’. The story could sustain a novel. But as a piece of theatre this could do with firmer blocking, more forceful shifts between characters, and a dynamic between the brothers that feels as real as their business.

The Basement, 13 May 2012
Rating:
Bella Todd