Kwame Kwei-Armah’s new play, Statement of Regret, the final part of his trilogy at the National Theatre, opened on the 14th November. Overflowing with important and relevant issues for the British black community, Kwame is questioning the cohesiveness of the latter.
The impressive stage setting is the plush London office of an imaginary black political think-tank, whose West Indian founder Kwaku Mackenzie (played by Don Warrington) resembles a Shakespearean King Lear, a tragic disintegrating hero, whose obsessive and drunken grief over the death of his West Indian immigrant father, leads him to lose touch of reality and brings about the downfall of a once thriving Institute.
Kwaku is entirely ignorant of the declining media interest in his organisation, jointly run by longstanding loyal friend and colleague Michael Akinbola (played by Clon McFarlane). Michael innocently encourages an office debate on future projects, siding with the young African hotshot and head of Policy Idrissa.
Immediately at loggerheads with Kwaku, Idrissa argues how their agenda is “old-school” and brands Kwaku’s reparations for slavery as ‘irrelevant’ and ‘backward’. One of a long list of Idrissa’s ideas is to research why black people of African origin do better than Afro-Caribbean’s in education, which leads us into its central theme.
Quoted, paraphrased and stiffening the dialogue is the work of American Social Scientist, Dr Joy De Gruy Leary, whose research on how Afro-Carribeans have been infected by feelings of inferiority and helplessness, has debilitated them to this very day, more so than their African brothers.
An exception to this is young Oxford Scholar Adrian, the West Indian ‘ghetto-kid done good’ who also happens to be Kwaku’s illegitimate son. "Are you afraid that a little white man lurks beneath that deep chocolate skin? Yes, that’s your story isn’t it? You’re really a little coconut parading as a radical black intellectual."
Epitomising the “punchiness” of the play, Idrissa’s amusing and intelligent sparring with Adrian propels the plot through a terrain of debate, an abundance of swearing and West Indian argot, emotionally provoking scenes, as well as derogatory name-calling which all produced gasps from a majority black audience.
An increasingly grief and guilt-ridden Kwaku ignores his forward-thinking staff and becomes consumed with the idea that Caribbean blacks are treated inferior by their African so-called brothers. Insisting on reparations for his own people he favours his illegitimate West Indian son over his own half-African son, Kwaku Junior (rising star Javone Prince).
Further entrenching the divide between African and Afro-Caribbean, two tribes unwillingly form which mirrors the unrest in the wide black community. The bottom line, as Dr Leary puts it, is that people in the African diaspora “don’t trust each other enough – if we can have unity, there is nothing that can stop us”. Kwaku Junior echoes this sentiment after many amusing and heart-warming outpourings, and profoundly proclaims "if we get caught up in our own shit, no one wins".
Overwhelmed with so many themes and plentiful emotionally dramatic scenes, one wishes that perhaps the heavy academic and historical facts could have been left out. Still, the message about the fractious black community turning on itself is illustrated well, using an extremely talented cast of the best black talent around.
An informative, provocative and amusing play that manages to grab the issue of inter-racial conflict with both hands (plus a textbook), is perhaps and I hope also alluding to how older 2nd generational immigrants have failed to challenge inherited ideas of ‘looking after your own’. The Cottesloe theatre (NT) will I am sure still be enjoying packed audiences for the duration of this show.
'Statement of Regret' (020-7452 3000) to 10 Jan; NT Cottesloe, London
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