Ruth Leon recommends… Blues for an Alabama Sky – National Theatre
Ruth Leon recommendsBlues for an Alabama Sky – National Theatre
This play opened to rave reviews in its recent National production, better than it garnered at its earlier productions across the Atlantic. The stunning performances, several Olivier-nominated, are what made the difference to Pearl Cleage’s play about a nightclub singer from the 1930s.
It is set in New York in a big old Harlem house where every inhabitant has dreams of artistic fame and success. But, following a decade of creative explosion, the Harlem Renaissance is starting to feel the bite of the Great Depression.
In the face of hardship and dwindling opportunity, on the morning after yet another roistering night out in which Angel has been fired from her nightclub job, she and her friends battle to keep their artistic dreams alive. But, when Angel (a strong performance from Samira Wiley) falls for a stranger from Alabama, their romance forces the group to make good on their ambitions, or give in to the reality of their time.
Those of us obsessed with the period can’t resist the play’s sly mentions of the celebrities who inhabited the Harlem neighbourhood’s consciousness such as Adam Clayton Powell, Langton Hughes and the central but invisible character of Josephine Baker across the pond in Paris. This is an old-fashioned melodrama with insistent touches of Tennessee Williams and Ibsen.
Lynette Linton directs a startling revival of this extraordinary play, which received three 2023 Olivier Award nominations for Giles Terera as Best Actor, Sule Rimi as Best Supporting Actor and another for Best Costume Design.
What happened to the much vaunted color-blind casting?