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Black-Themed Theater Abounds in London Black-Themed Theater Abounds in London
(about 3 hours later)
LONDON — Something startling has happened to London theater of late, and most welcome it is, too. The capital is offering more plays with black themes at the moment than this city has seen in an age, and with a confidence and range that suggests the current surge might signal a sea change that is here to stay.LONDON — Something startling has happened to London theater of late, and most welcome it is, too. The capital is offering more plays with black themes at the moment than this city has seen in an age, and with a confidence and range that suggests the current surge might signal a sea change that is here to stay.
From the largest of the National Theatre’s three playhouses to the commercial mainstream, and from a leading incubator of musical theater to various banner addresses off-West End, shows involving men and women of color have assumed pride of place to a degree that I can’t recall ever previously equaled in London — at least not in this quantity.From the largest of the National Theatre’s three playhouses to the commercial mainstream, and from a leading incubator of musical theater to various banner addresses off-West End, shows involving men and women of color have assumed pride of place to a degree that I can’t recall ever previously equaled in London — at least not in this quantity.
The result diversifies still further the spectrum of productions in a capital that finds room for all manner of theater. Just think: such breadth may before long even be the norm, thereby pre-empting the need for this sort of comment.The result diversifies still further the spectrum of productions in a capital that finds room for all manner of theater. Just think: such breadth may before long even be the norm, thereby pre-empting the need for this sort of comment.
So it is that August Wilson’s “Fences,” starring the British comedian Lenny Henry in a career-transforming performance, has more than a month to go in its West End run at the Duchess Theatre. Paulette Randall’s revival represents that rare all-black cast to test the commercial waters in a capital that, astonishingly, can pretty much count such ventures over the years on one hand. Among the others was a previous West End “Fences,” starring Yaphet Kotto, in 1990; Adrian Lester, now appearing at the National as Othello, played Mr. Kotto’s son in that production.So it is that August Wilson’s “Fences,” starring the British comedian Lenny Henry in a career-transforming performance, has more than a month to go in its West End run at the Duchess Theatre. Paulette Randall’s revival represents that rare all-black cast to test the commercial waters in a capital that, astonishingly, can pretty much count such ventures over the years on one hand. Among the others was a previous West End “Fences,” starring Yaphet Kotto, in 1990; Adrian Lester, now appearing at the National as Othello, played Mr. Kotto’s son in that production.
Sharing the repertory this summer with “Othello” on the National’s capacious Olivier stage has been the director Rufus Norris’s compassionate revisiting of “The Amen Corner.” The James Baldwin play — written in 1954 and previously seen in London to acclaim in 1987 — in this telling comes with its own gospel choir. It also features a rare sighting on home turf of Marianne Jean-Baptiste, the London-born Oscar nominee for Mike Leigh’s 1996 film “Secrets and Lies” who now resides in Los Angeles. (“The Amen Corner” finishes its scheduled run Aug. 14.)Sharing the repertory this summer with “Othello” on the National’s capacious Olivier stage has been the director Rufus Norris’s compassionate revisiting of “The Amen Corner.” The James Baldwin play — written in 1954 and previously seen in London to acclaim in 1987 — in this telling comes with its own gospel choir. It also features a rare sighting on home turf of Marianne Jean-Baptiste, the London-born Oscar nominee for Mike Leigh’s 1996 film “Secrets and Lies” who now resides in Los Angeles. (“The Amen Corner” finishes its scheduled run Aug. 14.)
As if co-starring in “The Amen Corner” as Ms. Jean-Baptiste’s errant husband were not enough, the actor Lucian Msamati — seen along with seemingly half the British acting community in TV’s “Game of Thrones” — has had an additional job directing a show that opened Monday (Aug. 5) at north London’s Tricycle Theatre.As if co-starring in “The Amen Corner” as Ms. Jean-Baptiste’s errant husband were not enough, the actor Lucian Msamati — seen along with seemingly half the British acting community in TV’s “Game of Thrones” — has had an additional job directing a show that opened Monday (Aug. 5) at north London’s Tricycle Theatre.
Entitled “The Epic Adventure of Nhamo the Manyika Warrior and His Sexy Wife Chipo,” the actor-turned-writer Denton Chikura’s debut play surely merits attention for its name alone. As it happens, I have yet to get to either this or a second off-West End entry, “Josephine and I,” which continues at west London’s Bush Theatre through Aug. 17. The latter play casts the 2013 Olivier Award nominee Cush Jumbo (“Julius Caesar”) in a self-penned piece about the singer Josephine Baker; the sellout run could doubtless extend were not Ms. Jumbo already committed to transferring with the director Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female “Caesar” in the fall to New York.Entitled “The Epic Adventure of Nhamo the Manyika Warrior and His Sexy Wife Chipo,” the actor-turned-writer Denton Chikura’s debut play surely merits attention for its name alone. As it happens, I have yet to get to either this or a second off-West End entry, “Josephine and I,” which continues at west London’s Bush Theatre through Aug. 17. The latter play casts the 2013 Olivier Award nominee Cush Jumbo (“Julius Caesar”) in a self-penned piece about the singer Josephine Baker; the sellout run could doubtless extend were not Ms. Jumbo already committed to transferring with the director Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female “Caesar” in the fall to New York.
But I can report on two other comparable summer openings on what was once known as the London “fringe,” a word that some while back stopped doing justice to the scale and scope of the venues involved.But I can report on two other comparable summer openings on what was once known as the London “fringe,” a word that some while back stopped doing justice to the scale and scope of the venues involved.
The Menier Chocolate Factory has made a name for punching above its weight as a cozy south London home for major musical theater reappraisals, more often than not involving Stephen Sondheim. Fresh takes on the Broadway composer-lyricist’s “Sunday In the Park with George” and “A Little Night Music” both moved on from the Menier to the West End and Broadway, and there is some talk that the Menier’s recent “Merrily We Roll Along” might reach New York as well, having finished an onward West End engagement on July 27.The Menier Chocolate Factory has made a name for punching above its weight as a cozy south London home for major musical theater reappraisals, more often than not involving Stephen Sondheim. Fresh takes on the Broadway composer-lyricist’s “Sunday In the Park with George” and “A Little Night Music” both moved on from the Menier to the West End and Broadway, and there is some talk that the Menier’s recent “Merrily We Roll Along” might reach New York as well, having finished an onward West End engagement on July 27.
The Menier’s current tenant is “The Color Purple,” the stage musical adaptation of the Alice Walker novel that looks far happier in the confines of a space holding fewer than 200 people than it did in a Broadway house roughly nine times the size of its current London home. Directed and designed by the British Tony winner John Doyle with a muted palette (not a trace of purple!) that values sincerity of feeling over showboating theatrics, the staging commendably refuses to stoop to the sentimentality that threatens to overwhelm a plot-heavy scenario at almost every turn.The Menier’s current tenant is “The Color Purple,” the stage musical adaptation of the Alice Walker novel that looks far happier in the confines of a space holding fewer than 200 people than it did in a Broadway house roughly nine times the size of its current London home. Directed and designed by the British Tony winner John Doyle with a muted palette (not a trace of purple!) that values sincerity of feeling over showboating theatrics, the staging commendably refuses to stoop to the sentimentality that threatens to overwhelm a plot-heavy scenario at almost every turn.
That rigor is achieved by Mr. Doyle in conjunction with a cast that couples London musical veterans like Nicola Hughes (“Fosse,” “Chicago”), here cast as the nurturing Shug, with a relative newcomer in Cynthia Erivo as the abject if eventually triumphant Celie, played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film adaptation. This young performer’s supremely open face charts its own tale of gathering joy that sweeps the audience along with it, reinvigorating an imperfect show with roof-rattling conviction and an abundance of heart.That rigor is achieved by Mr. Doyle in conjunction with a cast that couples London musical veterans like Nicola Hughes (“Fosse,” “Chicago”), here cast as the nurturing Shug, with a relative newcomer in Cynthia Erivo as the abject if eventually triumphant Celie, played by Whoopi Goldberg in the film adaptation. This young performer’s supremely open face charts its own tale of gathering joy that sweeps the audience along with it, reinvigorating an imperfect show with roof-rattling conviction and an abundance of heart.
Lest the wealth of stage diversity in London be seen to owe too much to the United States, by way of exhilarating contrast comes the director Joe Wright’s reclamation of “A Season in the Congo” at the Young Vic. This 1966 play by the Martinican writer Aimé Césaire is a stage requiem for the Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba, who was murdered in 1961 at age 35. (The play’s translator is Ralph Manheim.)Lest the wealth of stage diversity in London be seen to owe too much to the United States, by way of exhilarating contrast comes the director Joe Wright’s reclamation of “A Season in the Congo” at the Young Vic. This 1966 play by the Martinican writer Aimé Césaire is a stage requiem for the Congolese prime minister Patrice Lumumba, who was murdered in 1961 at age 35. (The play’s translator is Ralph Manheim.)
There’s no doubt that an air of hagiography hangs over a first act that works double-time to inform, no matter how much Mr. Wright (better known for films like “Anna Karenina” and “Atonement”) and his designer, Lizzie Clachan, push the carnivalesque atmosphere to a space that has been reconfigured to allow for some cafe-style seating.There’s no doubt that an air of hagiography hangs over a first act that works double-time to inform, no matter how much Mr. Wright (better known for films like “Anna Karenina” and “Atonement”) and his designer, Lizzie Clachan, push the carnivalesque atmosphere to a space that has been reconfigured to allow for some cafe-style seating.
It’s only after the intermission that an initial didacticism is complicated by Lumumba’s own desire not to be regarded as any kind of prophet. He voices his despair at “the blanket of darkness” that covers the Africa for which this freedom fighter will lose his life. (Lumumba’s fate is here anticipated by a cunningly envisaged, and highly physical, Last Supper of sorts in which the co-director, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, himself a noted choreographer, displays his supple hand.)It’s only after the intermission that an initial didacticism is complicated by Lumumba’s own desire not to be regarded as any kind of prophet. He voices his despair at “the blanket of darkness” that covers the Africa for which this freedom fighter will lose his life. (Lumumba’s fate is here anticipated by a cunningly envisaged, and highly physical, Last Supper of sorts in which the co-director, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, himself a noted choreographer, displays his supple hand.)
One doesn’t have to look far to find contemporary resonance for Ms. Césaire’s depiction of a sort of freedom deferred. Here a visionary finds himself at odds with an unfortunate political reality that isn’t overly keen on putting Lumumba’s brand of self-sacrifice first. One doesn’t have to look far to find contemporary resonance for Césaire’s depiction of a sort of freedom deferred. Here a visionary finds himself at odds with an unfortunate political reality that isn’t overly keen on putting Lumumba’s brand of self-sacrifice first.
Marking his first London stage appearance in over five years, the mesmerizing Chiwetel Ejiofor (“Kinky Boots” on screen, a 2008 Olivier winner for “Othello” onstage) as Lumumba burns with a bespectacled grace that shifts towards fury as events take their baleful course. The play asks lasting questions about what happens when independence devolves into chaos, but one never for a second loses sight of the galvanic figure at Ms. Césaire’s ever-questing core. As Mr. Ejiofor’s Lumumba is glimpsed crying for his beloved country, you may just find yourself dealing with tears of your own. Marking his first London stage appearance in over five years, the mesmerizing Chiwetel Ejiofor (“Kinky Boots” on screen, a 2008 Olivier winner for “Othello” onstage) as Lumumba burns with a bespectacled grace that shifts towards fury as events take their baleful course. The play asks lasting questions about what happens when independence devolves into chaos, but one never for a second loses sight of the galvanic figure at Césaire’s ever-questing core. As Mr. Ejiofor’s Lumumba is glimpsed crying for his beloved country, you may just find yourself dealing with tears of your own.
A Season in the Congo. Directed by Joe Wright. Young Vic. Through Aug. 24. A Season in the Congo. Directed by Joe Wright. Young Vic. Through Aug. 24.
The Color Purple. Directed by John Doyle. Menier Chocolate Factory. Through Sept. 15.The Color Purple. Directed by John Doyle. Menier Chocolate Factory. Through Sept. 15.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: August 6, 2013

A caption with an earlier version of this article misspelled the name of Cynthia Erivo and misidentified her place in the photograph.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: August 6, 2013

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the closing date of “The Color Purple.” The play will end its run Sept. 14, not Sept. 15. Because of an editing error, the Martinican writer Aimé Césaire was misidentified. He is male.