Tosin Cole and Heather Agyepong on transferring 'Shifters' to the West End

Tosin Cole and Heather Agyepong play former childhood sweethearts orbiting one another in adulthood in Benedict Lombe’s play, which transfers to the West End.

Benedict Lombe’s second play Shifters was an instant hit when it premiered earlier this year at west London’s Bush Theatre (the same venue as the playwright’s Susan Smith Blackburn Prize-winning debut, Lava).

Its portrayal of young love as a potent force, able to shape romantic identity and live on in memories, captured the hearts and imaginations of audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Its cast of two, Tosin Cole (Netflix’s Supacell, BBC’s Doctor Who) and Heather Agyepong (School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play), speak to London Theatre about reprising their roles at a West End theatre with twice as many seats.

Given its rave reviews, it should be no surprise to see Shifters catapulted into the West End, where it’s due to run at the Duke of York’s Theatre for two months from 12 August. Yet Cole and Agyepong are keenly aware of how few stories from playwrights of colour make it into theatreland. “It should be a normal thing. I’m not devaluing the position we’re in, or how hard it was to get us here, but there is a pressure because you’ve got to deliver,” admits Cole.

The transfer also marks his and Agyepong’s first time performing in the West End, and he believes it’s partly on them to “put bums on seats and makes sure the show is a success, so that other playwrights of colour and other casts of colour… get the opportunity to tell their stories on a bigger stage… We want to do this so that in the next 10 years, the landscape of the West End changes and is more reflective of what we see in today’s societies,” he says.

Agyepong is feeling that pressure too. “The magnitude of this happening is something to celebrate… I’m trying to stay present and enjoy the moment, because it is a moment,” she says, adding that it’s also about celebrating Lombe, “whose writing is superb and got us here… there’s been incredible plays by black and brown playwrights that haven’t made it to the West End.”

It’s true: the transfer makes Lombe only the third Black British female playwright ever to have a play staged in the West End, after Natasha Gordon’s Nine Night and Yasmin Joseph’s J’Ouvert, and while it’s been a prosperous year for the Bush — from which Tyrell Williams’s Red Pitch also transferred to the West End — for every success story, there are brilliant plays that don’t get the chance of a commercial run.

A large part of the production’s success is, of course, thanks to its director Lynette Linton, who as well as heading up the Bush Theatre, has been at the helm of the National Theatre’s Blues for An Alabama Sky and the Donmar Warehouse’s Clyde’s – both of which received Olivier Award nominations. “Lynette makes you feel really at ease. She gave us space to put our own input into the character development… someone who has a vision but also wants to collaborate,” enthuses Agyepong.

Also setting Shifters apart from more conventional love stories is its celestial, dreamlike setting, conjured by Alex Berry (set) and Neil Austin (lighting). Its star-dusted floor and criss-crossing light beams reflect the ethereal nature of the play’s non-linear narrative, which sees Cole’s Dre (short for Dream) and Agyepong’s Des (short for Destiny) – lovers driven apart by time and circumstance – cross paths intermittently every few years.

It was a chance encounter with Linton that led to Cole’s involvement with the production. “She told me, ‘I might have something for you,’” he recalls. But it had been six years since he’d last set foot on stage (in ear for eye, at the Royal Court), and having shifted his focus to the screen – notably starring as Ryan Sinclair, the companion to Jodie Whittaker’s titular Doctor Who – at first he wasn’t sure. But he said yes – “I was happily coerced,” he laughs – and as the play went into research and development, he became increasingly invested.

Agyepong came to the production straight from starring in School Girls at the Lyric Hammersmith, and admits that “Tosin being attached was a big part of the appeal. In terms of the chemistry, we just feel really at ease in front of each other, and [share] a willingness to play.”

The universality and relatability of their characters has allowed the pair to bring fragments of their personal experiences to their performances. “My first love was a mess,” laughs Agyepong, reflecting on how their characters Dre and Des meet when they’re 16. “When you’re that age, you want to present a perfect version of yourself, but what the show explores is that to truly be loved you’ve got to show all the messiness of who you really are… and I heavily relate to that. It’s something we’ve both experienced so it’s something we could easily tap into, those moments of vulnerability.”

It's been several months since the duo last played Dre and Des, and the temporary distance has given them an opportunity to reapproach their characters with slightly shifted perspectives. “I’m realising how three-dimensional and multifaceted they are. I have a new appreciation for my character and the relationship,” says Agyepong.

“This is the first time I’ve ever gone back to a role twice on stage,” adds Cole. “It’s an interesting perspective; you get another chance at it. It’s exciting to evolve with the show as the show is evolving… there’s a sense we had something special, and now we have to capture what we had at the Bush.”

Book Shifters tickets on London Theatre.

This article first appeared in the August issue of London Theatre Magazine.

Photo credit: Shifters. (Photos by Neil Austin, Craig Fuller)