The buzz around this play got fizzing when it first landed at the New Diorama Theatre in 2021. By the time it transferred to the Royal Court the following year, it had a grass roots momentum that grew without the help of critics or reviews. It became a sell-out sensation long before the big nods and nominations that are currently adding to the wild applause from enthusiastic audiences.
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets to Heavy by Ryan Calais Cameron has just transferred to the Apollo in the risk-averse and cheesy West End. It’s shaking up the quo and breaking down barriers with dizzying skill and gusto. Before the curtain went up, it was thrilling to note that it felt like an EVENT.
The air crackled with excitement and anticipation. This was a largely black audience in a big ol’ theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. I saw Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem in the same space and it felt like a completely different venue. The demographic shift brings such a big and welcome impact, it feels like the bricks and mortar have stepped up too.
It’s rare to be grinning and giddy before a show even starts, but thankfully, For Black Boys absolutely knocks it out the park. It’s a revelation on many fronts. The show breaks a multitude of conventions, not just in the rarity of the material, but in its method and mix of moods. Playwright Cameron was inspired by Ntozake Shange’s ‘For Coloured Girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf’ written in 1975.
Shange’s seminal work is described as a ‘choreopoem’ and this gob-smacking show mirrors that style with a contemporary drop kick. It’s stand-up comedy, get down dance, poetic polemic and street wise seminar all rolled into an ensemble show that takes the roots of theatre and grows its very own genre.
The play is an exploration of what might happen if six young black men shared their feelings and stories and supported each other through the process. It’s a reflection of the play’s message that it’s easier to imagine a week in Wakanda than a trip into truth and soul from a bunch of black boys in London. There’s a lot to unpack. Via jokes, wrangles and banter, the young men debate deadbeat dads, sex abuse, queerness, love, law enforced racial profiling and use of the N-word. It’s way more fun than it sounds. The script is tight, sharp and playful and the cast are masters of comedy, movement and timing. The laughs it serves are the best kind; explosive, loud and unexpected.
The second half is lighter on LOLs and goes to some grim destinations, but those shadows are excavated with skill and sensitivity. In fact, you could hear a pin drop when the scenes got tough, ‘cause people were on the edge of their seats, barely breathing, as the taxing action unraveled. Ultimately, For Black Boys is an uplifting and invigorating experience, despite the bracing title.
It’s also an education. I’ve been a lifelong advocate of the need to teach our youth about the vagaries of colonialism, but my ‘progressive’ perspective got shifted out the door when Midnight asks, ‘How does telling a don, that his people dem, used to get beaten in the streets, by little White men gonna empower him?’
Boom. Mind blown. As an old, gay white man, I can’t testify to the play’s authenticity with regards to being young and black, but performative masculinity is my daily dance, curse and prison. It’s at the core of the play and resonated deeply. I took my friend Joe, who’s black and grew up in Hackney. Shaken and dazzled, as the lights came up, he whispered, ‘That’s the best play I’ve ever seen’.
For Black Boys.. is at the Apollo until 7th May. https://theapollotheatre.co.uk/
Reviewer: Stewart Who?
Reviewed: 3rd April 2023
North West End UK Rating: ★★★★★