Sus – Hope Street Theatre

Barrie Keeffe’s play Sus exploring the deep-set systemic racism within the Metropolitan Police and society at large premiered over forty years ago yet with the resignation of Commissioner Cressida Dick less than two years ago following her failure to deal with misogyny and racism in the force, this powerful play still resonates. Whilst set on the eve of Thatcher’s landslide election victory in 1979, there are obvious and relevant parallels to Brexit’s ‘taking our country back’ that are reinforced by current-day statistics that tell us that black people are still nine times more likely to be stopped and searched than their white contemporaries.

Unemployed father of three, Delroy (Rikki Dallas), has been brought in for interrogation by two police officers, Wilby (David J Williamson) and his commanding officer, Karn (Thom Williamson). Initially believing he is there under Sus (suspected person) laws, it slowly unravels that Delroy is being accused of the murder of his pregnant wife, Georgie, and what follows is a harrowing grilling which makes for uncomfortable viewing for all the right reasons, whilst in parallel, Karn hideously delights at the political swing to the right which he believes will see tighter immigration laws and better pay for the police.

Keefe’s writing is superb: engaging and exciting in one breath whilst horrific and horrible in the next, as it perfectly captures the extremism of a society that at its heart is imperialistic and racist. The only question remaining then is whether director Sean Ponzini and cast have managed to pull it off.

The staging reflects a police custody suite complete with desk, chairs, and obligatory filing cabinets, and whilst perhaps a little too uncluttered, it serves its purpose admirably. I particularly enjoyed how the action has been broken up with clips from election night 1979 illustrating the country’s swing to the right interspersed with clips from the sitcom Bless This House that made light of racism and news interviews of the time highlighting racist injustice. It provides a respite of sorts between questioning and whilst we might have tidied up our television viewing in the intervening years, it is clear not much else has changed for the better, so a point well made.

Dallas delivers a composed but perhaps too light-hearted performance at times which, given the subject matter, was not always believable and is maybe belied by his more youthful years than the character. T Williamson’s Karn was downright nasty although a little too clean cut for my liking. Given the time period, we’re always at risk of straying into Sweeney territory but I would have liked his anger to be less retrained and more physically evident than just the chilled look in his eyes. In contrast, D Williamson delivered a subtle Wilby whose real menace comes to the fore as his borderline psychopath edge takes over which resonated strongly given the more recently reported police malpractices, and it was not surprising to see his emotions had caught up with him when the play finished, with such an understated yet powerful performance.

Coming in at well over ninety minutes, it may be wise to forewarn the audience that there is no interval to avoid the unnecessary audience disturbance witnessed tonight and I must commend the cast for not allowing that to disrupt their delivery.

Reviewer: Mark Davoren

Reviewed: 2^nd February 2024

North West End UK Rating: