retrograde

Photo: officiallondontheatre.com

I cannot keep away from a play written by Ryan Calais Cameron and once again he offers us a searing look at problems that have been plaguing this industry - and the world - for too long. A question I have been asking about productions more frequently is why has the company decided to stage this play now? What is it about the world currently that drove them to tell this story? I was slightly unsure about this in the first twenty minutes of this production, but perhaps this is as a result of my own naivety around Sidney Poitier's life. The more I learnt as Ivanno Jeremiah's Poitier took his place in the scene answered my question spectacularly. We are facing an alarming regression to the times of McCarthyism and the restriction of freedom of speech, and Cameron's writing explores a variety of positions we all choose to take and roles we choose to play but there is no doubt about which is the right one.

I did feel at times that the directing choices slightly took away from the gravity of the subject matter of the play. A little sequence of 'dick-swinging' one-liners delivered, albeit skilfully and entertainingly, by Stanley Townsend and Olivier Johnstone felt almost like overkill for the moment. I was unsure whether I was meant to feel this way about the two characters, both concerned with their place in the room and the industry more widely, or whether these lines were meant in earnest. There was a little disconnect between some of the characterisation of Mr Parks and Bobby, and the earnestness of Sidney Poitier and the rest of the piece. Jeremiah's performance was authentic and vulnerable, with dignity and power and a clear idea of who this man was and I feel that this was let down slightly by some cliche moments of writing and plot devices. It would, however, be incredibly easier to allow this to be overshadowed by the performances.

This production is a gem and we are incredibly lucky that shows like this are being staged on the West End. I am only sorry that I saw it so close to the end of the run and I cannot spend the rest of it urging everyone to go and see it. If you have a spare evening this week, this show is what you should see.