THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
As the great sitcom Taxi proved, a taxi station is a perfect setting for drama as there's an endless supply of stories, a motley bunch of drivers, usually bickering, and an easy way of getting characters off the stage. You've got a fare!
This wonderfully fractious and lively revival of August Wilson's classic play began life at Leeds Playhouse and is about to set off on a short national tour. The UK premiere in 2001 won the Olivier Award for best play.
Wilson's American Century Cycle is a series of 10 plays, mostly set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh where Wilson grew up, and is the magnum opus of one of America's most beloved and influential playwrights. Each play looks at a different decade across the 20th century. They were written, out of order, from the late '70s to the '00s and the last play was staged months before his death in 2005. Together they provide a human and humane panorama of the Black American inner-city experience and influenced so much that came after.
In this worn-out 'gypsy' cab station, where the one payphone rings constantly (this is 1977), the drivers line up to grab their fares mostly to neighbourhoods where regular taxi cabs won't venture. Alex Lowde's set, with a grim two-bar heater, is perfectly spartan and the single setting and the focus on men recounting their life experiences gives the piece an old-fashioned air. It's a "well made play" in the best sense and could be from the pen of Arthur Miller in that it explores the challenges of trying to lead a good life, and what that means, especially when you're constantly beset by society's racism.
There are no heroes here, the play never preaches, and Tinuke Craig's direction is suitably light-touch, drawing out some beautifully etched character work from a top-class ensemble as the men tell their stories and lock horns.
There's station boss Becker (Wil Johnson) who prides himself on being an upstanding member of the community and tries to prevent the men's usual bickering boiling over into violence. There's Youngblood (a charismatic Solomon Israel) playing a recently returned Vietnam vet, trying to build a new life and a family with girlfriend Rena (Leanne Henlon) constantly holding his feet to the fire. There's easy going Korean War veteran Doub (Geoff Aymer), the philosopher of the pack. There's alcoholic Fielding (Tony Marshall) and flamboyant Shealy (Nnabiko Ejimofor) who uses the place to "run numbers" as well as throwing in some great dance moves. Sule Rimi is a standout as the bored troublemaker Turnbo who sows gossip and throws his weight around.
Late in Act One things take a sudden darker tone when Becker's son Booster arrives. He's just been released early from prison after serving 20 years for the murder of his college girlfriend, a white woman who had falsely accused him of rape. The brutal confrontation with his unforgiving father is out of Greek tragedy but its intensity is leavened by Blair Gyabaah in a beautifully still performance which lends this gauche wounded soul a real poignance. And he is an understudy!
This is a great production of a modern American classic.
