Radio Golf *** - TNT
August Wilson died in 2005, so this will be the last in his series of ten plays charting the African American experience over each decade of the 20th century, and the sixth to receive its British premiere at this address. It takes us to 1997 and into the new office of Harmond Wilks (a Pittsburgh realtor who aims to be the first black mayor of Pittsburgh) and his businesspartner Roosevelt Hicks (a smooth operating bank Vice President whose love of golf is boosted by the belief that the best place to come to a business understanding is on the course). Smart, educated, wealthy, these two highfliers have made it in a white-dominated world and are at the fore of a multimillion pound project to redevelop the run down Hills District (where Wilson himself was brought up).
Wilson is suspicious of the cost of this success, and whilst (despite his ambition) Danny Sapani’s Harmond listens to his conscience, Roger Griffiths’ Roosevelt has no qualms about trampling over his roots if there’s money to be made. Far more sympathetic is the portrayal of the disadvantaged blacks who seem to treat the office as a local drop-in centre - Joseph Marcell’s deliciously cheeky Elder Joseph Barlow whose refusal to abandon his ramshackle, repossessed house jeopardises the rejuvenation plans, and Ray Shell’s shady Sterling, who never had his old schoolmate Harmond’s advantages but nevertheless sees the basic truth with the clear eye of common sense.
These two characters do much to galvanise a slow-starting, somewhat longwinded evening. But if Wilson’s exposition is sometimes awkward, his message still deserves to be heard.
Tricycle, Kilburn High Rd, NW6 (020-7328 1000). Until November 1. £10-£20
August Wilson died in 2005, so this will be the last in his series of ten plays charting the African American experience over each decade of the 20th century, and the sixth to receive its British premiere at this address. It takes us to 1997 and into the new office of Harmond Wilks (a Pittsburgh realtor who aims to be the first black mayor of Pittsburgh) and his businesspartner Roosevelt Hicks (a smooth operating bank Vice President whose love of golf is boosted by the belief that the best place to come to a business understanding is on the course). Smart, educated, wealthy, these two highfliers have made it in a white-dominated world and are at the fore of a multimillion pound project to redevelop the run down Hills District (where Wilson himself was brought up).
Wilson is suspicious of the cost of this success, and whilst (despite his ambition) Danny Sapani’s Harmond listens to his conscience, Roger Griffiths’ Roosevelt has no qualms about trampling over his roots if there’s money to be made. Far more sympathetic is the portrayal of the disadvantaged blacks who seem to treat the office as a local drop-in centre - Joseph Marcell’s deliciously cheeky Elder Joseph Barlow whose refusal to abandon his ramshackle, repossessed house jeopardises the rejuvenation plans, and Ray Shell’s shady Sterling, who never had his old schoolmate Harmond’s advantages but nevertheless sees the basic truth with the clear eye of common sense.
These two characters do much to galvanise a slow-starting, somewhat longwinded evening. But if Wilson’s exposition is sometimes awkward, his message still deserves to be heard.
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