Produced and performed as part of Applecart Arts's online fringe festival, Dazed New World, this was a play by, for, and about black people written and directed by Sabrina Richmond, titled, 'A Black Story'.
The play was written during lockdown and many of the contemporary references relate to our situations, restrictions and political commentaries during that time; not least of all that the cast of six wore face masks, observed their 2 metre social distance throughout, and was a filmed live performance without audience. Obviously due to the nature of the restrictions in place, the movement was absolutely minimal and the play did become extremely static because of this.
The play is in two very distinct parts. The first part - which also happens to be the last part too, since the second part of the play is sandwiched between - is a series of short interconnected vignettes between three main pairings: a young black lady and her white boyfriend, two estranged brothers arranging their father's funeral having grown up with different mothers, and a grandmother who imparts shocking new revelations on to her grandson as he comes to terms with losing his wife and being a single dad.
In these vignettes there is pathos, humour, drama, sangfroid, reminicences, anecdote, sex, relationships, and coping with covid. Mostly though there is hope and joy.
It is the second part of this play which concerns me. Rather than leaving the play there and allowing the audience to understand that these everyday problems are universal, and despite some of the customs and traditions being different, these pairs could be of any colour, any nationality, in any country. However, what happened next was nothing less than a political Black Lives Matter campaign speech, giving us a history of the oppression of black people in the UK and naming those who have made a name for themselves, right up to the present day. The play has taken a very different tone here, and it is, one feels, nothing more than a personal rant from the writer. This #BLM rally is out of place and doesn't fit in this play or this setting. There was even one point in this rant where I felt that it had gone full circle and the cast were no longer actors but real people shouting out their own political thoughts, making it all about being against all whites and the establishment. No matter what your politics or how you feel about racism in general; nor how the government has handled these issues either now or in the past; a lovely play about three families coping during lockdown and getting to know them and their lives and their pasts has absolutely NOTHING to do with the #BLM campaign and the two needed to be kept completely separate.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 19/10/20
I've watched this play and I think the reviewer has entirely missed the point. The title tells us this is both a political play and one about story-telling. There is a breaking of the 4th wall, which may jar with some, but the playwright is entitled to make their points in this way. I found it hugely thought-provoking and the form of the piece made me reflect on how we tell stories, who tells them and how history has shaped our current situation. The reviewer unfairly accuses the playwright of ranting in what reads very much like their own rant.
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