(seen at the afternoon performance on 15th March 2025)
Ivanno Jeremiah’s impression of Sidney Poitier is uncanny. Mannerisms, speech, both impressive.
Confronted by lawyer Parks (Stanley Townsend, character name a nod to Rosa if ever there was one) and asked to sign paperwork to end his friend’s career and advance his own... that’s drama.
Whose side is film producer Bobby (Oliver Johnstone) on? Nobody is certain.
What we do know is that in 90 minutes the three orbit wearily each other, writer Ryan Calais Cameron reflecting the shifting sands of McCarthyistic America in microcosm.
Calais Cameron over-writes. The establishing first scene is probably redundant, as the atmosphere he intends to create with it is missing. Fortunately it arrives with the entry of Jeremiah, and then retains its grip for much of the rest of the evening.
This is partly down to Amit Sharma’s skill as director, realising how much the play depends on timing. Emotions change in a split second, a perfectly timed (acted) but disastrously timed arrival a highlight of the performance.
We learn much about US attitudes of the period, and catch glimpses of the history, but the play never quite delivers enough overt information to fill in exactly how the three found themselves in the situation. The programme notes do so, but a little more script may have raised the tension higher.
As it is, knowing that power – and being on the right side of those wielding even more of it than you have – is fundamental to explaining everything.
Well-written final scenes yield constant ripples of applause from the audience as well as a few gasps and a final explosion of support for a great actor. More than sufficient to satisfy us by the end.
Just as the play finishes here, the monkey tips its hat to him.
