It is almost worth going to see
There isn't a scene in which two people aren't brought into direct confrontation, and scarcely a scene in which someone doesn't raise their voice.
The Initiate tells the story of a British taxi driver of Somali descent who hears that Somali pirates have captured two British tourists. In order to give his son something to be proud of (along with other more complex motives), he raises some money and goes over to Somalia to personally negotiate the release of the hostages.
This is quite clearly a political play. Most of the conversations deal very directly with the issues it covers, and it manages to give a pretty thorough breakdown of the problems of being British Somali when all anyone hears on the news about your old home are stories of violence and horror. A range of different perspectives are given, and the play takes a few pleasingly unexpected turns.
The three members of the cast manage their parts well. The two supporting actors are particularly noteworthy for playing at least three characters each, managing roles as diverse as a teenage boy, Somali pirate, and a jobsworth boss.
There is an old adage in playwriting that each scene should be built around some form of conflict. I found myself wishing that the writer, Alexandra Wood, had relaxed that rule a bit. There isn't a scene in which two people aren't brought into direct confrontation, and scarcely a scene in which someone doesn't raise their voice. While this makes for an intense hour of theatre, the relentless arguing becomes a bit wearing after a while.
Ultimately, this is a play that does exactly what it says on the tin, dealing with the highly current themes with intelligence, even if it is usually at an elevated volume.
