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Holding the Centre
B2 Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
**** Holding the Centre is a
hard-hitting drama with a lot of violence, swearing and a sex scene. The
saddest part of the evening is the realisation that this is the lived
experience of a huge number of young people in urban areas all around
the country. A world premiere, it is
penned by Birmingham writer Joan Carty, an alumnus of the Belgrade’s
Critical Mass
programme for emerging writers from BAMER
(Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee) backgrounds and she draws on
her extensive experience of working with socially excluded communities. Micaiah AKA M1 (Jordan Leigh) is a bright,
articulate and promising young black man with a privileged, private
school background who has lost his way and become involved with guns and
drugs. The play opens in a windswept yard where he and
his friend Marcus (Jordan Laidley) are punishing a rival gang member for
the accidental murder of their friend. Retaliation drives them both but
Micaiah is having huge doubts and in his mind he visits a wonderfully
wise woman (Deborah Tracey) whose advice to him as the ‘tallest tree in
the jungle’ is to work out if he needs to be shelter or shadow. Deborah Tracey is simply a joy to watch. She also
plays Jennifer, Micaiah’s aunt, who works in a centre that aims to
eradicate the stereotyping that pushes black people in low-achieving,
low-wage work. Jennifer’s sister Claudette, Micaiah’s mother, is
a high-achieving University professor and their mother Mabel (Kaye
Brown) questions Jennifer’s choices and undermines the achievement of
Jennifer’s daughter Jay (Mauricia Lewis) as she sets off to pursue her
own academic career. My rumbling thought throughout was the
Shakespeare quote, “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown” as
Micaiah orders the murder of an 11-year-old rival gang member after he
presumes to take over his patch. This action precipitates the crisis of
the play. Micaiah’s young sister Selena (Adaya Henry) is
taking her A levels and has to work out a route to school that will be
safe. It turns out to be impossible and rival gang members take her,
sadly, literally. Is redemption possible for Micaiah? Marcus is the next
victim and his young love Desta (Elizabeth Adejemi) insists on
retaliation. This is the crux; Micaiah must decide. I would criticise the ‘in the round’ production;
I was in the front row and only caught about 50 per cent of the
dialogue. It is a shame since this is a first-class play and some fine
young actors seem set up to fail. Directed by the Belgrade's Leon Phillips and
co-directed by Women Writes founder Reaya Sealey it runs to
07-09-19. Jane Howard 05-09-19 |
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