Random’s extraordinary solo performance brings family tragedy to vivid life
ZAHRA Newman is sitting on a stool against the back wall of the stage gazing down contemplatively as the audience enters the theatre. And then as the play begins she bursts into vibrant life.
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WHAT: Random
WHERE: Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre
WHEN: Until November 11
FOUR STARS
ZAHRA Newman is sitting on a stool against the back wall of the stage gazing down contemplatively as the audience enters the theatre. And then as the play begins she bursts into vibrant life.
It’s the start of another ordinary day for a British-Caribbean family living in West London. The sister stares down the alarm clock, then drags herself out of bed to get ready for work, little knowing of the terrible random event that is about to hit them.
Random was written by debbie tucker green (who spells her name in lower case), one of Britain’s leading black playwrights, in response to the numerous teenage knife crimes in London between 2007 and 08.
The play is crafted for one female actor who plays all four members of the family — mother, father, sister and brother. Their motto is that you should “never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you”. And then there are policemen on the doorstep with bad news.
Using the rhythmic patois of the Afro-Caribbean community (the day begins with “Birds bitchin’ their birdsong outside”), and punctuated with time-checks, the writing is tight, poetic and alive with telling little details.
In just 50 minutes, the playwright builds a vivid picture of the family’s life — the loving mother cooking porridge, the taciturn father sleeping off his night shift, the smell of the cocky teenage boy’s bedroom, the bantering relationship between brother and sister, the gossip at the sister’s office.
Leticia Caceres first directed Newman in Random in 2010. Now, having delivered a touching performance as Nabulungi in the musical The Book Of Mormon, Newman returns to the play for Belvoir, and she is extraordinary.
Directed again by Caceres, with a simple design by Jacob Nash, lighting by Rachel Burke and sound by The Sweats, Newman differentiates each character with distinctive vocal and physical choices.
She inhabits each of them in a way that feels so in the moment and so real that when tragedy strikes it is devastating, and our heart bleeds for them.