I went on a James Baldwin binge after discovering the author/ sometimes playwright during my senior year in high school. It wasn’t until my undergrad years as a theatre major, however, that I discovered that Mr. Baldwin had indeed written two plays. I felt it my duty to devour both plays as fast as I could. That was almost nine years ago.
Two hours ago, I finished watching his first play, “The Amen Corner” at London’s National Theatre and I am convinced that had Baldwin ever craved another career during his lifetime, he would’ve probably been a full time playwright. It is safe to say that by the end of this show, every person who has seen this production has “gone to church”. They’ve spent two and a half hours watching a story that, though intrinsic to the African-American experience, holds multi-layered themes and resonance.
For those who are unaware with the rarely performed, three act play, the story follows Margaret Alexander (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a pious and subtly tyrannical pastor at a Pentecostal church. She lives with both her son, David (Eric Kofi Abrefa) and her sister Odessa (Sharon D Clarke). After delivering a rousing Sunday sermon, Margaret receives an unexpected visit from her ill, musician husband, Luke (Lucian Msamati), who was thought to have abandoned her family years ago. While she and her husband share different beliefs about their past, the secular world and God’s place in it, and the impending future of their musically gifted son, her congregation becomes suspicious of her past, propelling them to a place of judgment. The struggle to keep both church and private life separate soon becomes a blur resulting in Margaret losing many of the things she once held dear, and causing her to truly regret the prideful, uncompromising manner in which she’d been behaving.
The talent in this production is supreme. Marrianne Jean-Baptiste makes a stellar Maragaret Alexander giving the character a clear arc going charismatic, genuine, and subtly manipulative pastor to a woman wracked with insecurity over the decisions of her past. One can see that her position is, indeed, a tough one, and the tough love and religious piety she wears as emotional armor is easily broken down. Lucian Msamati gives a cracking performance as the estranged husband who has come home to release himself from his demons and die forgiven. His jazzy charm remains at the spirit of his performance. There are standout performances for the rest of the cast as well: Sharon D Clarke plays Odessa with beautiful empathy, and subdued rage at the hypocrisy of the church. Eric Kofi Abrefa does a great job of showing David’s coming to terms with reuniting with his father, and wanting to forge his own path without being held back by religion or any other conventions. Lastly, Cecillia Noble relishes her role as Sister Moore, one of the most hilarious, and hypocritical church members in the congregation.
Rufus Norris has directed a show that is rooted in authenticity and one which brought a piece of Harlem to London. Ian MacNeil’s set design is one of the most impressive I’ve seen and one in which does an excellent job portraying the duplicity of Margaret’s life with her church being on the top level and her home being below it. Tim Sutton (Musical Director) should be proud of music he’s provided for the show which takes us from traditional gospel hymn to the jazz nightclubs of Uptown in the 1950s.
At day’s end this play tackled duplicity: living one way, doing things another way, and the consequences involved when there is an excess of pride and no acknowledgment of love and forgiveness. The ultimate message of the show reveals itself in the following line:
‘‘To love the Lord is to love all His children—all of them, everyone!—and suffer with them and rejoice with them and never count the cost!’’
It is a message that we know James Baldwin was discovering as he wrote the play, after his first novel “Go Tell It on The Mountain” and it’s certainly one that shaped the rest of his life. It isn’t often that Mister Baldwin’s works are done large scale, but maybe that should change. This play is proof that his work resonates, captivates, and is necessary. Everyone in the audience tonight was arrested by what they were seeing onstage tonight and what they were seeing was an authentic portrayal of black life, and the position the black church has in it. The play should definitely have an extended life elsewhere. Baldwin on Broadway? One can hope, but in terms of this particular production, let the church and this author say “Amen.”
By Tommy C. (@BoyVirginiaMade)
