Back to the Bridge Theatre to see White Noise by Suzan-Lori Parks which has now sadly finished its run. The play is a 4 hander with old college friends formed of two mixed race couples. Leo (Ken Nwosu) is knocked to the floor and injured by the police. His response is to ask his white best buddy Ralph (James Corrigan) to sign him up as a slave for 40 days. Ralph starts to enjoy the power, at one point borrowing an old slave collar from a museum to put onto Leo in a disturbing scene.
Meanwhile their partners go on their own 40 day journey; Dawn (Helena Wilson) a lawyer with a white saviour complex and woke credentials and Misha (Faith Omole) who worries about exaggerating her persona on Ask a Black call-in show. All 4 characters ask thought provoking questions about the liberal society and its authenticity.
The acting was fantastic, the play gripping and it swept me up. But is it believable? Leo volunteering to be a slave is not credible and the characters reactions to it all seem inadequate. But despite plot issues, I found it thought provoking, funny and yet tense and would have recommended it, if it hadn’t ended its run!
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