Shifters review: This bittersweet romcom sizzles with chemistry, writes PATRICK MARMION By Patrick Marmion Published: 20:08 EDT, 22 August 2024 | Updated: 20:11 EDT, 22 August 2024 e-mail View comments Shifters (Duke of York's Theatre, London) Verdict: Love's labour won Rating: There's a joke at the end of Woody Allen 's film Annie Hall about a guy telling his psychiatrist he's worried about his brother, who thinks he's a chicken. The psychiatrist urges his patient to bring the brother in. But the patient isn't sure.
.. 'I would, but I need the eggs.
' The point is that no matter how crazy or frustrating our romantic attachments seem, we go back to them because...
we need the eggs. That same compulsion underpins Shifters, the bittersweet romcom by female playwright Benedict Lombe first seen at the powerhouse Bush Theatre in West London, which has now transferred to the West End. It's the story of Dre and Des, a pair of thirtysomething on-off lovers who first met at school.
.. 'two little black kids, destined to oppose each other'.
The show's best feature is the two heartfelt performances from Tosin Cole and Heather Agyepong as Dre and Des He's cheeky and playful but guarded. She's smart and direct, yet oddly elusive Their paths cross again after the funeral of Dre's grandmother, eight years on from their split. She is now a successful artist in New York.
He has a restaurant in London. An elegy for a relationship that never was, Shifters feels real, complicated and soulful. The s.