With a crack cast of actors in the tortuous, torturous triangle on which the play centres, Dawn Walton’s revival is palpably a labour of love. It’s alive to the play’s impious humour and swagger as well as to its anger.
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It says a great deal that the entire cast of Nickcolia King-N'da, Natalie Simpson and Toyin Omari-Kinch more than do justice to Fagon's writing.
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Forty-six years on from its original production at the Hampstead Theatre, the issues explored in The Death of a Black Man still have political relevance and will resonate with many well beyond the end of the play.
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For all the director Dawn Walton’s efforts, though, [The Death of a Black Man] turns out to be a frustrating museum piece.
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Dawn Walton’s fine revival does [Alfred Fagon] the courtesy – and justice – of renewed appraisal, and what emerges most strongly from an evening that enthralls and exasperates in equal measure is that Fagon had a remarkable way with words.
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But my God, the writing is vivid, and Dawn Walton’s production compelling. She draws mercurial performances from her two male actors. That the only female character is a pliable accessory to them is part of the play’s argument, and part of its problem.
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But the actors bring immense conviction and charm to their parts and the drama leaves us with many points of provocation, whatever its weaker points. If this is Fagon’s legacy, we need more of it.
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