Satire with a sour taste

Its protagonist Kayode (Lucian Msamati) is a self-made man who's scuppered his chances of re-election as an MP in Britain because of a tweeted insult about his constituents and, during a recuperative holiday in Nigeria, he decides to stand for election as an anti-corruption candidate there.

Kayode's sudden and unexplained relocation to the west African state - he does not even inform his British/Nigerian wife Rita (Noma Dumezweni) - invites incredulity.

But what is even more problematic is the simplistic and politically naive way Belong presents the fight against corruption in Nigeria.

That struggle  is personified in Kayode's wealthy mother (Pamela Nomvete), who finances idealistic young men. The rather sinister, and perhaps unintentional, twist is that her character is reminiscent of Winnie Mandela and members of the Mandela United Football Club. 

Noma Dumezweni as Rita is utterly perplexed by her husband's shift and more than any of the other actors in the play she draws some sympathy for her character's plight. 

Yet the egocentric Kayode, running from election to election, and his wealthy but naive mother only reaffirm our worst fears about Nigerian political life. While this is obviously not Agbaje's intended effect it is unfortunately the one that results.

Belong does express genuine anxieties about the multifaceted problems of migration and there are some fraught and comic moments as the characters try to straddle and contend with two very different countries and cultures. 

But the play's over-abundant scenes are filled with minor points of confrontation and the expositional dialogue - which tells rather than shows - indicates more indebtedness to TV than the theatre on Agbaje's part.

Good drama doesn't simply repeat cliches and declaim the obvious. It can reveal new dimensions of old hurts and suffering - sadly we don't get that here.

Runs until May 26. Box office: (020) 7565-5000.