SAFE. To 9 June.
Leeds
SAFE
by David Hermanstein
West Yorkshire Playhouse (Courtyard Theatre) In rep to 9 June 2007
31 May, 1, 5-6, 9 June 7.45pm Mat 9 June 2.30pm
Audio-described 1 June
BSL Signed 6 June
Runs 1hr 20min No interval
TICKETS: 0113 213 7700
www.wyp.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 22 May
Safe is sound.
This is the 5th of West Yorkshire Playhouse’s May mini-seasons presenting new plays by emerging writers under the title ‘Northern Exposure’, opening this year with David Hermanstein’s critique of macho violence among Black northern society.
Looming over the action is mature muscle-man Ty, who regards people like the chess-pieces he uses to fill time in prison, confident he can see through prison-walls, for he instils enough fear to be sure how his associates will behave while he’s inside.
Ty’s influence runs into the next generation. And almost into the one after that; his confident soliloquies are intercut with two teenage lads trying to cope with the baby Remi’s bringing up for his sister. A taste of marijuana seems the thing to lull the mite to sleep, a neat mix of concern and inadequacy. The only counter-influence is the baby’s mother, Dionne, the sole female voice, whose opening soliloquy of longing for Delroy sets a level of emotional vulnerability and gains context as the action develops.
For some time Hermanstein’s play seems irritatingly, wilfully fragmented. But as the fragments eventually interlock, and the reason for the realistic presentation of a dead character becomes clear, his structure seems inevitable for this story. Despite his blood-soaked shirt, the dead man is alive to Dionne. And she is in a state of mental shock after his death.
Safe incorporates several of the elements often linked to Black British urban youth experience: drugs, violence, shootings. The shooting here is as coldly determined as anything on TV or film. But the play’s success lies in its structure and the implications of its title. The slow piecing together of plot elements and character relationships provides a contrast to the easy thrills of fast-action thrillers.
And the violent elements are either tinged with the pathos of their domestic setting (marijuana to keep the baby quiet) or damped down by their fragmented occurrence amid more reflective material. Ultimately Dionne’s constructive wish for stability, and safety, wins over Ty’s macho, destructive influence, something made clear in Karena Johnson’s sympathetic, well-acted production, in which Akiya Henry provides a strong central reference-point.
Remi: Jumayn Hunter
Jermaine: Anwar Lynch
Dionne: Akiya Henry
Ty: Trevor Dwyer-Lynch
Delroy: Marcus Onilude
Director: Karena Johnson
Designer: Barney George
Lighting: Daviod Bennion-Pedley
Sound: Mathew Angove
Drtamaturg: Gabriel Gbadamosi
2007-06-01 10:55:56