The Other Room are back for their new Autumn/Winter season of work starting with Katori Hall’s successful play telling her version of Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jnr’s final hours, as he confronts the man he has been, his legacy and the world he is leaving behind.
The play first emerged in London in 2009 and was presented by Theatre503 – Welsh audiences may be familiar with their very well received production Land of Our Fathers. This production is presented by FIO, a Cardiff and London based Theatre Company. Their mission, as you can read in their programme included a commitment to ‘work that celebrates individuality, tearing down stereotypes and offering everybody – whatever their story – a chance to make their make their mark in the world.’
Following this mantra this production presents an epic story of a remarkable man making his mark on the world and paints a more complicated picture of the heroic preacher than we may be familiar with. This includes his self acclaimed failings as a preacher and his less talked about infidelities on the road.
Alexandria Riley
We see him as an embattled human being, far from the martyred picture we are used to. The play in no way makes little of his importance or his achievements rather, in showing his complexities and flaws, it brings him a little closer to us humans as opposed to the picture of a deity whose life and achievements may seem above and beyond mere mortals.
The set (Stacey-Jo Atkinson) suitably and successfully locates us into the modest motel surroundings of King’s last hours on earth. He is brought coffee by a maid who turns out to be the catalyst for reflection and judgement before his looming ascent. It is this encounter that the play is centred around and provides for some spectacular theatricality and comedy.
Mensah Bediako
Mensah Bediako’s King starts off a little stilted but I think this is more to do with issues with the script at the beginning of the play. One issue, for example: when writing a phone call into a play you can trust the audience to fill in the gaps of ‘the other peron’ otherwise it comes across a little patronising. However, once Alexandria Riley enters as Camae, both the script and Bediako’s performance shine in what turns into a stunning dramatic duologue.
Riley’s comic timing and intentness in performance makes the whole production, at the very least, an extremely worthwhile night out. The two players play off each other extremely well and this is aided by a very fluid direction by Abdul Shayek.
In terms of story, Hall provides an interesting perspective that is certainly not around, it seems, in other forms. The play, however, for all its good qualities, tends towards the didactic. What I mean by this is that the play puts forward as its central point that, despite it being 2016, more needs to be done in terms of the fight against racism. While this is a noble statement, it is a largely obvious thesis to put forward. Perhaps a more affective formula would be to present the happenings of the world and let the audience be moved by this – vox pops don’t tend to change the world anymore.
Alexandria Rikey and Mensah Bediako
All this said the performances, the direction, the design were all excellent, and I repeat my earlier point: Alexandria Riley’s performance is mesmerising.
The Other Room. Until October 15. www.otherroomtheatre.com
I saw the show and enjoyed it very much with the full house audiences showing great appreciation for the work. The reviewer mentions issues of ‘the fight against racism’ today, and the play is also part of a black history month. However, there were few members of the BME community in the audience so is this type of work not interesting or relevant to that community? Was it any of my business to even notice such a thing? It’s just a thing for others to ponder over maybe.
As for the play, while it may have been a touch didactic, even obvious, the production and the performers sparkled nicely and I enjoyed emphasising with the characters and getting some of the background to the issues that faced them then and now. Well done to the Other Room for putting on a constant barrage of intelligent and thoughtful work.