Josephine And I, Bush Theatre - theatre review

In the Bush Theatre, decked out as a sweltering cabaret bar, we wait for Cush Jumbo as Josephine Baker, the all-singing, all-dancing Twenties and Thirties Music Hall sensation. Instead, we get Cush Jumbo as Cush Jumbo. She recounts how she first saw Josephine in Zouzou — the earliest feature film to star an African-American woman — and shows off her fan memorabilia. Since she also wrote the piece there’s little doubt that her enthusiasm is genuine.

A sound clip plays from an interview, Jumbo mouthing along, and as it ends — poof! — now she’s Josephine. We rocket through her remarkable life, from Paris stardom to her speech alongside Martin Luther King Jr. There’s no time left for the iconic banana skirt, only briefly mentioned.

Jumbo fills the script with witty one-liners (“How could I be a Communist? Have you seen how they dress in Moscow?”) but it’s when she launches into the Charleston, limbs flailing and face gurning, that she truly transforms.

Phyllida Lloyd, who worked with Jumbo in last year’s Julius Caesar at the Donmar, keeps things visually interesting without distracting. Fulfilling the “and I” half of the title, Jumbo occasionally leaves Josephine-mode to address the audience as herself, drawing parallels to her life. A blatant vehicle for Jumbo’s talents but who’s complaining if they’re this good?