A story with lots of potential that is sadly not fully realised in this production
Jali is a one man show, written, performed, and directed by Oliver Twist. A refugee from Rwanda who ends up resettling in Australia and gaining Australian citizenship. The show was first performed in Australia and was nominated for a number of awards including “Best Newcomer” and “Best Independent Production” at the Sydney Theatre Awards and also received rave reviews with 5 stars from OUT in Perth and 4 stars from the Sydney Morning herald. I am not one to be contrarian for the sake of it, but I did not leave this show with such a positive opinion.
There is no doubt that Oliver Twist has an interesting story to tell, I am just not convinced that this was the best way to get this story across. At multiple points I felt like the performance fell flat. The delivery was too stilted to feel natural and like you were listening to a friend tell you about their life, but also not slick enough to feel like you were listening to a master storyteller entertain you. It was in a strange middle zone which I think took away from some of the impact.
This show is meant to have light and dark moments, but all of the comedy fell flat to me, and at my performance, the most that was managed was some polite or awkward laughter when we could tell that what was just said was meant to be comedic, even though the humour got lost somewhere. The most amusing section to me was the jokes about Madonna adopting a baby from Malawi. Nothing especially groundbreaking, but it did leave me with a wry smile.
The strongest sections of the performance for me were the descriptions of fleeing Rwanda on a bus in the middle of the night, and him and his family hiding in their home in Malawi while riots happened outside. These moments were vividly described and the fear really came across well and highlighted how good this show could have been. The section of Oliver climbing the Mulberry tree with his friends guiding him also felt very visceral and real. In my head I feel like I saw that depicted on stage, but it was just Oliver brilliantly bringing this section to life through his words. There is undoubtedly talent that Twist has as a storyteller, but this talent does not make itself known often enough during this show in my opinion.
The structure of the show is non-chronological with us starting off with Oliver imagining how his parents might have first met, and then soon after jumping to him living in Australia, and then jumping back to Rwanda and so on. We are told selected snippets from his life spanning over 2 decades, so while obviously not everything could be included, I did feel that certain key moments were missing. We hear multiple times about failed attempts to leave Malawi and be resettled elsewhere and the disappointing letters that he received telling him the relocations were not going to happen, but then we never get to hear about how he felt or reacted when he found out the relocation was going ahead. We just suddenly have Oliver and his family on a flight to Australia. This felt like a key part of the story that was being built up to, and it was just missing.
The lighting on the show was mixed. It was very effective in making you envisage a lake and the African heat, but during one of the surreal dream-like moments, the lights were so strong on the audience that I had to avert my gaze. I am not sure if this was intentional but all I could focus on was how bright the light was and how much it was hurting to even try and squint to see what was happening on stage.
As previously mentioned, Oliver Twist definitely has an interesting life story to tell, but in my opinion, this show does not do that story justice.