Plays dealing overtly with the thorny topic
of "race in America" (usually narrowly defined as relations between
WASP and African-American characters) have found considerable favour on British
stages in recent years - ever since Bruce Norris scrawled all over Lorraine
Hansberry's classic A Raisin in the Sun with
his scabrous update Clybourne Park. Currently, Tearrance Arvelle
Chisholm's Br'er Cotton is sold out at Theatre503, while Ned
Bennett's Orange Tree-originated production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's An
Octoroon is National Theatre-bound in June.
Though different in content and approach, these works can be linked by a few
factors, notably a boldly revisionist attitude to past narratives and a pessimistic
perspective, one that, as Armond White argues in his fine review of Jordan Peele's
film Get Out, often "paints a limited, doomed picture of
race relations."
Receiving its European premiere at the
Finborough, Bruce Graham's White Guy on the Bus
is in many ways another example of this type of drama, charting the
relationship between a white financial consultant, Ray, and a black single
mother, Shatique, that shifts from apparent sympathy into more complicated territory.
As the title suggests, the pair meet on a bus that Shatique takes every
Saturday to visit her brother in a Philadelphia prison. Ray's reasons for being
on the bus are more mysterious. But as the play shifts between his chats with Shatique
and scenes in which he and his wife, Roz, entertain another couple, Christopher
and Molly, at their home, Ray's intentions towards his fellow passenger become
clear.
With its public transport setting, White
Guy on the Bus seems to gesture further back than its
immediate peers, specifically to Amiri Baraka's Dutchman (1964), which
dramatised an explosive meeting between a middle-class black man and a white
woman on an NYC subway car. Ray and Shatique's encounter is not a sexually
charged one, however; rather, the pair's initial interactions (which include
some of Graham's best writing) appear to reveal a certain gentle affinity and
connection, as Shatique opens up about her life. The tension ratchets when we
hear Ray telling Shatique something that we know - or believe - to be a lie but
it's a shame that the play reveals its hand rather quickly after this, dissipating
the intensity with a surprise reveal and developments that don't always fully convince.
Generally avoiding the snark and satirical tendencies that have become associated
with the most popular US-derived race-based dramas, Graham's storytelling is admirably
lucid but sometimes excessively brisk, leading to a pacy evening but one that could
be boosted by a little more depth and texture in elements of the writing.
Jelena Budimir's production remains highly
engaging, though, placing the audience on both sides of the action, and
negotiating the drama's location and temporal shifts with elegant economy. The
production also benefits from strong performances from the cast. Donald Sage
Mackay compellingly suggests a volatile temperament beneath the "numbers
man" Ray's mild-mannered exterior. Samantha Coughlan brings a striking,
vivid quality to her role as his spouse, a woman whose experiences as a teacher
in a tough inner-city school have made her impatient with PC platitudes. Carl
Stone and Marina Bye convince as the younger couple, while Joanna McGibbon is
subtle and searing as Shatique moves from curiosity and warmth to confusion and distress in
her attitude towards the stranger.
The high quality of the acting ensures that
the on-the-nose debates about crime, racial representation and city versus suburb
sound less contrived than they might. And as issues of vengeance rise to the
fore, and latent prejudices are - inevitably - exposed, Graham's writing includes
some subversive insights that help to counter the less convincing elements of
the plotting. Overall, Budimir's production makes for an involving, gripping
evening. However, as Bola Agbaje's very British Bitches demonstrated at this venue two years ago, it might be worthwhile for Artistic Directors to seek out more
explorations of race relations beyond fashionable North American contexts.
Reviewed for The Reviews Hub. [**** stars].
Booking until 21 April.
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