The Christ of Coldharbour Lane brings to Soho the tale of a mentally unstable young man who is elevated to the heights, firstly in his mind and then eventually in the people of Brixton, of a messiah.

In the first half you see Omo depart prison or a mental institution (you aren’t really told which) a changed man. He is recruited by The Mission to talk the talk on the streets to encourage the Brixtonians to join the faith. He tries everything to get the people to join but has no success. All the while he believes he is Jesus reborn but refuses to perform any miracles.

The second half (note there is no intermission) was a strange departure from the first when, after Omo does perform a miracle, suddenly there is talk of conspiracy and government assassins which all finally resolves itself abruptly in revolution and the start of civil war.

There are a lot of random characters in Christ of Coldharbour Lane and no doubt every single of one them is an exact characterisation of typical Brixtonians. The lead character, Omo, is a strange mixture of preaching, socialism and African voodoo magic which to me was a bit confusing. The strength was definitely in the supporting cast of five who were brilliant in representing the hustle and bustle that is Brixton and to me utterly charming and outrageously funny at times.

There was a lot going on in this play and many messages to be heard so its certainly a play that makes you think but unfortunately I walked out of the play a bit confused and unsure where the play was trying to take us. The journey though was filled with a fair amount of laughter so it wasn’t a bad night’s entertainment.