Roots Mbili Theatre brought their epic, devastating show ‘Far Gone’ to the Crucible Playhouse this week, and demonstrated the excellence that has awarded them multiple 5* reviews and a world tour which they are currently embarked on.
The tale is an acute dissection of a young boy’s corrupted innocence, documenting their traumatic and violent journey from young village boy into child soldier as he is kidnapped and groomed by the Lord’s Resistance Army. A harrowing narrative that meditates on morality, war and masculinity, John Rwothomach’s solo play is visceral and potent.
His script is unflinching and bold. Equally is his performance. Rwothomach writhes and contorts faces and figures of the human experience, specifically those occupying Uganda during the late 20th century. The commandant is a fierce, influential despot who is a riveting antagonistic force throughout the play. His crooked right-hand man Sprinkler is the twisted image of man warped by war and indiscriminate violence. Okumu is a free-spirited, buoyant child. The imposed cruelty of their maturity is difficult to watch yet consistently arresting.
Director Mojisola Kareem’s work is a triumph. Rwothomach is masterfully guided and shaped in the space, there is a remarkable understanding of time and Kevin Jenkin’s minimal yet positively provocative design is utilised to great effect. Lee Affen’s musical direction embellishes the work well whilst pivoting to a more functional role once compelled to, which makes this intimate solo show more of a spectacle of sound and vision than it might have signalled.
Although Kareem’s direction is impressive, I am conflicted by the pacing of the work in places. There is a clear and deliberate patience afforded to scenes where Okumu’s strife is to be experienced unfiltered and in totality. Days and days of walking carrying heavy loads are documented in a fashion that is as close to the fabric of the reality told as we see Rwothomach stagger awkward with almost stillness across the stage floor, only ever inching towards their next step, back splintering and twitching under the pressure. It’s uncomfortable and it’s on purpose – but it drags so long that despite this very clear statement, and this very clear intention to force the audience to sit with Okumu’s early torment and confront it, it half removes us. But again I am conflicted, because the statement is a fist on the chest of our clothes, with sharp clarity and certainty in its meaning, and one this work earns.
Kareem and Rwothomach are masters in their knowledge of the audience and performer relationship. We are given early instructions which establish the law of the land, that when the commandant speaks, we repeat it. It’s this subtle manipulation that makes us all unwilling participants in the horrors that unfold within the world we have been brought into. It beautifully mirrors the same subjugation Okumu and other men who are robbed of their names fall under in confrontation of this political, religious violence. We are shown how easy it is to fall in line, and how aggression and barbarity deform our morality and destroy our independence. We become servants to the thing we fear with little to no resistance.
Striking, vicious and vulnerable, Far Gone is a marvel in storytelling that delivers.
Reviewer: Louis Thompson
Reviewed: 17th September 2025
North West End UK Rating:
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