Di Prodigal Pickney
Hackney Empire, London
⭑⭑⭑☆☆

OVER several decades Oliver Samuels has had a successful career providing comedy to the Caribbean and its (particularly Jamaican) diaspora. Much of that time has been spent as a stand up, but there have also been regular forays into film and theatre, and at 76 he’s now on a UK tour with this new play, which he’s written himself and in which he stars.

A comedy, of course, Di Prodigal Pickney is a modern-day version of the biblical story, set in Jamaica and following Samuels as Jacob, a farmer who’s struggling alongside his long-suffering wife, Miriam (Karen Harriot), to keep a rein on their errant eldest son, Ephraim (Tesfa Edwards), now grown up and quite a nasty handful.

The regular laughs are lapped up by a full-house in this venerable old people’s theatre, although there are also moments of introspection in which deeper issues afflicting the family are tackled.

For the uninitiated some of the Jamaican patois is difficult to get hold of – at least until the ear gets attuned – but the cognoscenti are on board from the off, and Samuels feeds on the deep goodwill of the audience to deliver an assured performance.

He and Elliot establish themselves as a classically humorous warring couple who pull in different directions even if sharing the same aspirations, and are brought back regularly to a state of truce through the comic effect of Jacob’s spiralling blood pressure.

Although sometimes there’s a bit too much shouting between the pair, especially given that they’re heavily microphoned, they interact most satisfyingly. Neither are averse to breaking the fourth wall, and both show great timing.

Edwards, in the lesser role, imparts Ephraim with a teenage-like surliness that develops into something more calculating and menacing as events unfold.

Di Prodigal Pickney is nowhere near “high art,” and just as far away from being a wholly serious attempt at dissecting the societal factors that cause family breakdown. Nonetheless it has its touching and elevating moments. More importantly it’s a good deal of fun – and a fine vehicle for Samuels, who is, after all, the personality everyone has come to watch.

Plays Fairfield Halls, Croydon, November 1 and Broadway Theatre Catford November 2. Tickets: accessuktickets.co.uk