Black theater in Britain has received a big boost with the production of Fallout by Roy Williams. The writer, now 35, has several awards to his credit for previous plays. The new work is a stunner, both in the writing and the acting.
The plot was inspired by the murder of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor, a Nigerian, in November 2000, only yards from the playwright's front door (the case shocked the nation, and the accused black teenagers were acquitted). The play opens with the fatal beating of the teenage Kwame by a quartet of his black classmates and proceeds to explore the fallout of the incident among the perpetrators, their girlfriends, and a pair of investigating detectives.
Kwame was a bright student only four months from starting college. His attackers are contemptuous, given to a culture of sexual rivalry, knives, guns, robbery, and braggadocio. Williams has done a wonderful job of capturing the teenagers' vernacular lingo, spicing it with occasional humor. Issues of racism arise from the fact that one officer, Matt, is white while his subordinate partner, Joe, is black. Complicating matters further is that, though they both speak standard English, they disagree about how their investigation should proceed.
At the helm of the production is Ian Rickson, the Royal Court's artistic director, who has assembled a remarkable cast and elicited energetic performances. Especially outstanding are Michael Obiora as gang member Dwayne, with a jewel in each ear; Marcel McCalla as his hoodlum colleague Emile; Ony Uhiara as the latter's girlfriend, who works at the eatery where the gang hangs out; and Lennie James (a playwright as well as actor), conflicted within himself as the black officer.
Rickson and designer Ultz have chosen to reconfigure the venue so that the acting area is placed on top of the orchestra seats with the audience looking down on the action from above.
