Black Theatre Review: Joe Turner’s Come and Gone
Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright August Wilson’s ‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone’ –now playing at the Young Vic theatre, Waterloo-is an epic tale of love, loss and sacrifice set against the backdrop of an America, ill-at-ease following the abolition of slavery.
The year is 1911. Southern-born, African-Americans have not long come out from under the shadow of bondage and many of them struggle to make a new life for themselves. Cantankerous Seth Holly (Danny Sapani) and his congenial, long-suffering wife Bertha (Adjoa Andoh) run a lively boarding house in Pittsburgh through which passes many a wayfaring stranger.
Their current residents include have-a-go roots worker Bynum (veteran American actor Delroy Lindo) offering animistic solutions for the lovelorn; randy young labourer, Jeremy (Nathaniel Martello-White) who can’t decide whether to romance heartbroken Mattie (Demi Oyediran) whose pursuit of her errant lover leads her to seek help from Bynum, or sassy and independent Molly (Petra Letang) who refuses to be tied down by man or child. The equilibrium of the household is set off balance by the arrival of perturbed wanderer Herald Loomis (Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) and his only daughter, Zonia (Leah Ocran). Herald was kidnapped and forced to work for Joe Turner’s slave gang several years before. Finally free, he searches for Martha (Riann Steele) the wife he unwillingly left behind. Seth’s initial-and seemingly unfair- suspicion of Loomis is eventually justified as Herald’s erratic and frightening behaviour betrays signs of psychological instability, triggered by the treacherous hand life has dealt him. Joe Turner has indeed come and gone and left a hurricane of devastation in his wake.
(c) Simon Annand
Directed by David Lan, the Young Vic’s production of ‘Joe Turner…’ is atmospheric and highly charged, serving Wilson’s multi-faceted script well. Patrick Burner’s set design is dominated by the blood-tinted sand spread throughout the auditorium. It gets everywhere-hovering in the air and nestling itself under the audience’s feet (and between the toes of those wearing open shoes). The imagery is almost biblical; the sand is a reminder, lest we forget, of man’s constant battle to subdue the earth. Toil and struggle is all around us; from dust we come and to dust we return. The dirt’s sanguine hue points to the theme of sacrifice, blood sweat and tears, that prevails throughout the play right up to its shocking denouement.
Sapani and Andoh give solid performances as the Hollys. Sapani appears to wrestle with memorising the script but works it to his advantage by passing off any hesitation as Seth stumbling over his words during his many outbursts. The supporting cast is also on good form. Especially noteworthy turns come from Demi Oyediran as the bereft Mattie, the only one to show Loomis true compassion and Riann Steele as Martha, whose brief but powerful appearance in the final scene is deftly executed.
The strongest performances however come from Holdbrook-Smith and Lindo. An actor of great versatility and consistent quality, Smith was made for the role of Herald Loomis- a character whose very name is burdened with the significance of its carrier’s former vocation as preacher as well as auguring the misfortune that befalls him. Smith moves seamlessly between Loomis in intense, dour mode to wild-eyed frenzy. The chemistry with Lindo’s Bynum is palpable too. Apparently touched by madness himself, the roots man is the only other resident who can relate to and address Loomis’ tortured psyche. Lindo played Loomis in one of the first productions of ‘Joe Turner…’ and brings this understanding to his interaction with Smith. The two men bounce off each other’s troubled energy in a way that dwarfs everything around them. There’s a twisted novelty in seeing Lindo so convincingly portray Bynum at his most unhinged. The roots worker also gets the lion share of the play’s most inspired lines. When advising Jeremy on his tactics with the ladies Bynum proffers…
‘…A fellow go out there, grab hold to a woman and think he got something ‘cause she sweet and soft to the touch…But…when you grab hold of a woman…you got a whole world there…why, she can take and make something out of you…’
This speech is indicative of Wilson’s celebration of female strength in ‘Joe Turner…’ Finding the right world-or woman-to whom they belong is a perpetual quest for the men. Meanwhile it’s the womenfolk who are the most pragmatic. Bertha is the backbone of the Holly household, looking on patiently as her loving but moody husband rants. Molly is several decades ahead of her time, determined to make it in life not needing a man as opposed to suitor, Jeremy who does all he can to avoid being alone. Mattie, abandoned by the father of her children after both of her babies die, doesn’t allow tragedy to unravel her as it does Herald. Even Martha successfully rebuilds a life for herself having given up on her husband for dead long after his capture.
Above all, it is the painfully accurate depiction of life’s injustices that makes ‘Joe Turner…’ an uneasy yet compelling theatrical experience.
Book tickets for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone at the Young Vic
