Off the Endz by Bola Agbaje

Off the Endz is a project I started in 2007, after the first run of Gone Too Far!.

I remember sitting in Dominic Cookes office, he asked me what I wanted to write about and I had two ideas at this point. One was about the generation gap, how the young can learn from the old and vice versa and the other was Off the Endz.

At a writers meeting at another theatre two weeks later a discussion arose about black writing and someone commented that they were fed up with black writers writing hood stories (stories about estate lives).

This comment annoyed and angered me, I felt as a writer nobody should dictate to me what I should write about so I decided Off the Endz would be my next play. It is not another ‘hood story’. Its a story that needs to be told.

I felt as a writer my work is very much influenced by the world around me and my own experiences. I believe a writers journey is similar to that of a musician. The first album is your heart and soul, this was Gone Too Far! for me.

The second album is often about the transition from your struggle and how you deal with it in your new environment. Off the Endz is by no means an autobiography of my life.

But it does reflect some of the experiences I have had and of those around me.

I no longer live on an estate but I know and understand the struggle people face trying to get out. We all aspire for a better life and the characters in this play are no different.

Life is about choice. Off the Endz explores the choices people make and the effect it has on others. As a writer I do not have all the answers. I merely hold a mirror up for society to see the world we live in.

Some people may not be happy with my subject matter. But if you look beyond the subject matter and the setting, you will see a story that affects many people from all walks of life and asks the question – What does friendship and family mean to you?