Theatre Review: Phil Okwedy: The Gods Are All Here, Tobacco Factory Theatres

Summary

Rating: ★★★★

Running Dates: Monday 23rd October 2023 

Where to see it: Tobacco Factory Theatre

Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes (including interval)

Keywords: Raw, Emotive, Warm-hearted 

Review

The Gods Are All Here is created and performed by the one and only Phil Okwedy. It’s a raw and captivating personal story of how growing up as a young boy with a dual heritage in 1960s & 70s Wales without his parents was truly like. 

Phil Okwedy's storytelling is beautiful and emotive. He captivates you into his own story with elements of myths, folklores, a likeness to gods and a series of heartfelt letters. These letters spark the true beginning on how he built his parents and their relationship. It’s as though each letter added a missing piece to the puzzle. 

As Phil said, he was brought up by his Aunty Barber who cared for him as a child.  As a child he didn’t know anything about his parents' relationship until his mum passed. It wasn’t until he was emptying her place out to find a curious box full of letters address to his mum from his father. The story goes through each letter builds upon the lost relationship to help him understand what his parents are like.

The set enhanced the storytelling with each individual letter printed out for Phil to showcase throughout the show which was engaging. In the interval, I had a sneak peek from a distance at the letters and the set design which added to the true essence of the story. The letters had different textures, styles and air mail envelopes and you could see the history through them, especially when they started changing from being handwritten to typed.  

The set also included the only image Phil had of his parents and another picture of his aunt's barber and you could see the material used gave hints of his heritage as well as the clothes he wore.

The only character of the story is Phil and I believe he tells his own life story beautifully. It may have helped to have some additional lighting to help set the mood for the scene as the story went on. Even though it's an emotional story there were hints of laughter from the audience and even some singing at the end of the show with the audience which was heartwarming and ended the show on high! As the audience clapped people started giving a standing ovation so of course I did too! 

I would highly recommend the show, Phil is an astonishing story teller. 

Standout Quote or Moment: The audience singing together at the end of the show was heartwarming - it really brought the show together at the end. 

See If: You are looking for an exploration of family history

Similar Plays: I can’t think of any play which is told by one person only, it’s beautiful unique.

 Last Impression: A raw and emotive story. 

Written by Ella Hunter