From
LITTLE BABY JESUS
by Arinze Kene
Little Baby Jesus by Arinze Kene was co-produced by BEcreative and Spora Stories at Oval House Theatre, as part of their London via Lagos season, in London on 25 May 2011. This production was directed by Ché Walker with the following cast members: Fiston Barek (Kehinde), Seroca Davis (Joanne) and Akemnji Ndifernyen (Rugrat).
Little Baby Jesus could be described as a modern-day parable, as it effectively extracts stories and references directly from the bible and places them in a contemporary playground of street slang, gangs and adolescents.
Arinze Kene’s play Little Baby Jesus is a coming of age story of three inner-city teenagers – Kehinde, Rugrat and Joanne – as they encounter situations which force them to grow up quicker than expected. Written in a series of monologues, the world of each character gradually collide, overlap and gel together as they deal with themes of mental health, death and violence.
About the Playwright
Actor, playwright and Artistic Director of Inner City Theatre Company, Arinze Kene was born in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to London in 1991. Arinze pursued an acting career by training at Identity Drama School in East London. He is most famously known for his role as Connor Stanley in British television soap opera EastEnders. In 2010, he made a leap from acting to playwriting with his debut play Estate Walls which was presented as part of the Omo London festival, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence. In 2010, Arinze won the award for Most Promising Playwright at The Offies (Off West End Award) for his first play Estate Walls. Throughout his writing career, Arinze has been affiliated with the Young Writers Programme at the Royal Court Theatre, Soho Theatre HUB Writers programme and the series 3 writing team for EastEnders E20.
Summary (Extract)
KEHINDE is a sixteen-year-old black boy, described in the play as ‘the boy who never leaves’ school.
KEHINDE’s sister that can outrun everyone in the school including Pierre Cunningham, the leader of the Cali Road Boys gang (CRB). When she wins the race and Pierre announces his victory, Kehinde has to decide whether to stick up for his sister or agree with the school bully.
Pierre?! Nah! Pierre didn’t win shit!
They were only saying that because they were afraid of him and the Cali Road Boys. Look at Pierre’s face, he knows he lost. He weren’t showing off like he does when he gets it in the back of the net. Yo Pierre!! (Walking up to him.)
He’s taller than me but I made sure I got in his face –
‘Why deceive yourself, fam? Why, fam? You lost. Accept it. Digest it. Look, look at this, this is the letter ‘L’, you should eat it. You should marry it. You earned it. You can’t win all the time. CRB? Who… Why would anyone wanna be in your scabby crew? I lost mad respect for you, fam. Epic Fail.’
Instead what really came out was –
‘Ah Pierre, gotta give it to you, bro, you’re kinda fast, that was close but you won, by an inch though, just an inch, that was close but you won, you had a better start, she should’ve dipped.’
SHIIIT!
What’s wrong with me?
My eyes dart over his shoulder in search of Taiwo. Phew. She was occupied, she didn’t clock.
That’s when I heard a crow caw from the tree above and… there was something about this moment.
You…you know when you’re brushing your teeth in the morning and you suddenly remember you had a dream last night and you just kinda freeze up in front of the mirror because you’re trying to recall it and you almost had it just now but it slipped away? And you have to let it go, carry on brushing and try to forget about it because you know that the more you try and remember it, the further it’s gonna repress itself deep down into your inner psyche? That feeling. When I heard the crow caw in the tree it jugged something in the quicksand part of my mind and gave me that feeling. I knew there was some kinda lesson to be learnt, I felt as though I were reliving a parable.
A CRB throws his scabby arm over my shoulder.
‘Who’s the fastest in the year, bruv?’
‘Err it used to be Taiwo but now it’s Pierre,’ I said quickly.
Then the pin dropped. I realised what the muffled fluttering under my subconscious was about. It swung my rationale into the story Mr Taruvangadum taught us earlier that day.
Right before they captured Jesus, when he was chilling with his Apostles, he said to Simon Peter –
‘Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice.’
It was obvious. The crow’s caw was the cock’s first caw. Sounds crazy I know but it was a sign.
Up in the tree, the crow stared directly down at me. I barely understood the omen, when Pierre grabbed me by the strap of my school bag and lead me to the middle –
‘…even Kehindickle saw!! Tell ’em what you saw, go on, tell ’em.’
I looked up at the crow. My sister’s face shot out to me from the crowd.
‘Errr. You…Pierre won. Tawio should’ve dipped.’
The crow cawed a harsh final cry then flew from the tree.
Taiwo heard. She turns her head in shame.
Shit.
That rendered me horrendous.
I pulled my tongue out of Pierre’s bumhole and let it back in my mouth where it should’ve stayed
FUCK!
I tried to explain to her that –
‘I swear down, he won by an inch, I’m telling you, from where I was standing, at the angle from which I saw it, he won by an inch – plus, the sun was in my eye, you should’ve dipped.’
to obvious no avail. She had no words for me, she wouldn’t even look in my face.
‘Oi…’
She zipped open her rucksack, barely listening to my false apologia, turned and articulated one thing:
‘You have SO much to learn.’
That shot me through my bad heart ten times –
Raptured my spleen,
fractured my ribs,
internal bleeding,
haemorrhages,
blood clot,
cataracts,
brain damage,
heart attack.
Death by double-crossing. My one person in the world. If I were allowed to have one person in the world. I’d have Taiwo.
As I watched her put her trainers into the carrier bag before she puts them in her racksack, I promised myself I would never shun a blessing to gain friends ever again. Right then and there, I grew up. Inside here – (Touches his heart.) And the growing pains sent a tear rolling down my cheek. I had to pull myself together, quickly.