“Flex” by Candrice Jones
Produced by Crows Theatre and Obsidian Theatre
Review: Dave Rabjohn

Cast of Flex – Roya Delso
Excitement grows in the Toronto sports community as the WNBA announces a brand-new franchise for the city. This creates the perfect backdrop for an equally exciting production of “Flex” by Candrice Jones – a play set in the 1990’s about a burgeoning women’s league and girls with basketball ambitions.

Co-ordinated with Obsidian Theatre Company, the play tells the story of five black girls from Arkansas trying to break free of their rural southern roots through the prism of basketball. “Flex” is an actual basketball term for an offensive play based on quick passing and aggressive cuts through the key. The play is dependent on team cohesion and unity.

Cohesion and unity begin to break down among the girls as ambition becomes fierce, relationships fray, and serious social stigma (around unwanted pregnancies) becomes real.

Starra Jones is the swaggering captain, played ferociously by Shauna Thompson, trying to keep her team The Lady Train on, well, track. A misstep from jealousy, along with a misguided effort to compromise condoms, her basketball stardom shrinks. She is benched by the coach.

Another potential star player, April Jenkins (Jewell Bowery) is also benched for her real-time pregnancy. In a moving show of unity, the girls wear fake pregnancy pillows (comically described as home economics babies) during practice.

As they move toward the state championship, the team moves through a seesaw of emotions highlighted by the bible promoting Trinity Lloyd (Cherise Howard) who at one point baptises the entire team.
Perhaps a touch cliché, but the final scene is the big game with everything on the line. For the girls it is a learning curve.

Comic elements sneak through the drama including the coach (Sophia Walker) and her wandering speeches about her past career. Another highlight is the drive through the American south as they karaoke down the highway with a very twitchy driver.

Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu’s direction is fraught with challenges. With a high energy cast, Otu has one foot on stage and one foot in a sports arena. This challenge is well-navigated – one can usually direct an actor, but it is impossible to direct an errant basketball with a mind of its own. The audience was warned to keep sharp.
Ken Mackenzie’s set is extraordinary. In front of the audience is a halfcourt on the floor where we see most of the action. The magic comes from the second half of the court as it rises vertically along the back wall so we are immersed in two dimensions.

The set also exposes the disparity between small town poverty and the riches of professional basketball. The high school backboard is fading and peeling. A clever touch was the subtle exposure of weeds around the edges of the unkempt court.

As scenes begin to depict the lure of professional sports, bright lighting and luminous ribbons sparkle and create overwhelming energy seen in any big city basketball arena.

The final scene is another of Otu’s big challenges. To depict a basketball game showing only one team requires creativity and specific movement. The actors make this work moving easily from offense to defence, willing the audience to envision the other team.

Candrice Jone’s play is a beautiful precision of movement. But it also has great depth as the characters chart their way through the pains of youth, small town poverty and great expectations.

‘Flex’ by Candrice Jones
Performers – Jewell Bowry, Jasmine Case, Asha James, Trinity Lloyd, Shauna Thompson, Sophia Walker.
Director – Mumbi Tindyebwa
Set Design – Ken Mackenzie
Lighting Design – Raha Javanfar

Runs through – May 18, 2025.
Tickets – crowstheatre.com