THE MOUNTAINTOP To 4 July.
London.
THE MOUNTAINTOP
by Katori Hall.
Theatre 503 The Latchmere Pub 503 Battersea Park Road SW11 2BW To 4 July 2009.
Tue-Sat 7.45pm Sun 5pm Mat 4 July 3pm.
Runs 1hr 25min No interval.
TICKETS: 020 7978 7040.
www.theatre503.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 12 June.
Striking play with two striking performances.
Having just addressed a mass Black congregation, and due to speak again next day in Tennessee, Dr Martin Luther King appears to be riding high: Destiny’s Doctor, so far as American civil rights are concerned. But, arriving at the Lorraine Hotel the night before his big speech, he just wants cigarettes as he huddles, afraid of the storm outside.
When the nearest thing to room service turns out to be young Black maid Camae, bearing a cup of coffee, Katori Hall’s play starts examining the conscience of the King. A sexual frisson emerges with this sparkily attractive woman, there’s a pillow fight and her self-accusations over her repeated cussing prepare for the final revelations about someone whose life has been close to hell but who ends up among the angels.
She stands up for herself, and won’t stand for King patronising her sort, the poor; her “garbagemen” sounds more authentic than his “sanitation workers”. Slowly it becomes clear there’s more than meets the eye to Camae, and it takes the play further from wise-cracking comedy with Black American voices, and beyond the bounds of realism. Yet it’s not only Libby Watson’s bedroom-setting, showing the limited comfort of a sixties motel, that anchors the action. Whatever the mix of two identities in Camae, the play never moves from the psychology of the situation.
Both characters are brought to terms with their limitations, though the shock’s a lot sharper for King. In James Dacre’s production, David Harewood maintains a sense of authority through moments of pride, self-assurance and anguish. All these lead to the unwelcome realisation the cause is greater than just him. And Lorraine Burroughs is mercurial as Camae, coming to terms with so much, mixing awkwardness and wisdom, by turns bright and reflective.
As for King’s question about what the future holds, a final montage makes Hall’s point that things are better yet not so good as they should be. It would be a theatrical cop-out, handing the end to documentary images, if what had gone before hadn’t made the question so integral to the lives of these two people.
King: David Harewood.
Camae: Lorraine Burroughs.
Director: James Dacre.
Designer/Costume: Libby Watson.
Lighting: Emma Chapman.
Sound: Richard Hammarton.
Video: Dick Straker for Mesmer.
Voice/dialect: Charmian Hoare.
Assistant director: Tenkie van de Sluijs.
2009-06-15 00:33:07