The lying game: Charles Daish (Charles Strickland), Nina Toussaint-White (Susan), and Clarke Peters (Henry Brown). Picture by Alastair Muir
Play: RACE
Theatre: Hampstead Theatre
Playwright: David Mamet
Review by Joy Francis
There is always a buzz when a David Mamet play hits town. RACE, the revered American wordsmith’s latest production, is no exception. Despite having its debut on Broadway in 2009, this UK premiere, directed by Brit Terry Johnson, highlights how the subject of race is fraught with half truths and self deception.
A mid-range law firm run by a white and black lawyer (Jasper Britton as Jack Lawson and Clarke Peters as Henry Brown) with Susan, their new young black female apprentice played by Nina Toussaint-White, is offered the chance to represent a well known white billionaire accused of raping a black woman in a hotel room.
At first the team isn’t convinced the wealthy Charles Strickland, a shifty Charles Daish, is innocent. Discovering that he was dropped by a leading law firm like a hot potato arouses their suspicions. His evasive attitude doesn’t help matters along with his racial ignorance and desperate need to be cleansed and exonerated. Just when Brown and Lawson are ready to show him to the door, the proactive Susan takes it upon herself to contact the district attorney for key witness documents, an act which makes them Strickland’s official attorneys.
Faced with this unwanted and potentially career threatening case, Lawson leads the charge to get Strickland off the hook, which throws up an angle that suggests Strickland may be innocent. As the case is built and tactics discussed, new pieces of unsettling evidence against Strickland emerge that not only puts the case into doubt, but uncovers deep seated beliefs and lies between the lawyers that make you wonder who is actually telling the truth.
The play has a timeless feel in that the issues raised about race feel old and familiar. White male power is paramount, though in a situation where race and sex is combined, the white man is seen to be at a disadvantage. Mamet is convinced that race, like the legal system, is infused with lies. In court, claims Lawson, each side will lie to get a “just” outcome. The case is a performance where you create a story more potent and compelling than the one that already exists in the jury’s mind.
Renowned for his dialogue and pacing, Mamet’s script doesn’t exactly crackle or spit. It’s fast, occasionally deft but more often dense, speckled with humour and intellectual verve. Most lines are memorable in the moment, but most of it doesn’t ring true. Many questions are presented throughout the play, including whether the alleged victim was a prostitute and how black people feel about white people. By the end, most of them remain unanswered.
Part of the problem is that in one hour and 20 uninterrupted minutes you can only look at the surface of race and sexism. Instead we are left with proclamations and generalisations, and a female lawyer who is used for much of the play as a foil for Lawson’s exposition and polemic on race, religion, sexism and the inherently flawed nature of the legal system.
The subtext, of why Brown is disapproving of Susan and her Ivy League education, would have been interesting to unpick with more exchanges between them instead of so many with Lawson. Despite the obvious shortcomings, Clarke Peters exudes a weary calm while Jasper Britton’s performance fizzles with energy and conviction.
Mamet says that the relationship between black and white people is like a marriage where you bicker and fall out. The real question is whether both parties can ever be equal players. As highlighted by the case of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn who was arrested for raping a black chambermaid Nafissatou Diallo last year and settled out of court, the jury is still out on that point.
RACE is at Hampstead Theatre until 29 June 2013.