ALEM is a person with a story, as we all are. He’s 14, a refugee from wartorn Africa, left in an unfamiliar world of foster care, his fate resting uncomfortably in the hands of a mechanical judicial system.

Fisayo Akinade has a wonderfully understated stage presence, his personality comes through this landmark production with a fierce gentleness that has you rooting for him from the very beginning.

Based on Benjamin Zephaniah’s novel, Refugee Boy is adapted for the stage by Lemn Sissay and you would expect a flowering of purple prose; instead the style is conversational, down-to-earth and urgent with a rhythmic sense of reality and purpose, oh and the music is fab.

Alem’s journey is played out on Emma William’s innovative set where more than 50 suitcases are glued together to become stairs, a climbing frame, a kitchen, as well as Alem’s tiny bedroom where he keeps the picture of his Eretrean mother, and the letters from his Ethiopian father.

Director Gail McIntyre has used physical theatre to great effect with an ensemble of exceptional actors that she imbues with a collective kind of emotional choreography. Each character has a story, each bully a reason to be angry and metaphors of hope congregate at the very heart of this production and exemplary performances from everyone, especially Dominic Gately.

In the night sky where the stars become tired of shining, Alem, who loves to read Dickens, searches for his own expectations, he’s Oliver with a twist; hungry to belong.

Actor Dwayne Scantlebury was rushed into hospital on the morning of first night. His replacement, an exceptional Jason Lamar Ricketts read Mustapha with a great sense of thoughtful confidence.

  • Until Saturday. Call 0191- 2305151 or northernstage.co.uk

Helen Brown