For Black Boys review and star rating: ★★★★
Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy is an empathetic meditation on the lives and struggles of Black men in modern Britain, with a lot of ‘90s R&B. Writer-director Ryan Calais Cameron’s powerhouse play is now in its fourth iteration, claiming the space it deserves in the heart of the West End.
Fractured and fast-paced, For Black Boys takes place in a sort of group therapy session, and carries with it the heft of a sociology master’s thesis, but there’s also amazing dancing and some hilarious jokes.
The piece reflects on the experiences of its six protagonists – Onyx, Pitch, Jet, Sable, Obsidian, and Midnight – from childhood to early adulthood, encompassing schooling, relationships with authority (parents and state), health, employment, romance, sexuality, and violence (both external and self-inflicted). Along the way it touches on racism, colourism, toxic masculinity, homophobia, and religion.
For Black Boys considers the difficult choices confronted by Black men trying to exist in a majority-White culture, which can be indifferent, fearful, or even hostile. The different approaches taken by the characters consciously reject the lazy assumption that Black culture is a monolith.
As a performance about the performance of Black masculinity, For Black Boys offers insights into the universal experience of negotiating intersectional identities in a society that may not be accommodating. However, the centering of Black men provides a specificity to these struggles, showing how they can be made more difficult by issues of race and culture, and featuring references and problems unique to a community that is seldom represented in the theatre.
The curtain rises on a tableau vivant bathed in blue light, which slowly begins to undulate, as the actors balletically enfold one another. The effect is mesmeric, and it sets out the stall for what the creators describe as a “choreopoem”. This dynamic blend of dance and poetic language elevates what could otherwise have been a static play, weighed down by substantial ideas. While there are proper musical song and dance routines, it is the precision in action scenes and the economy with which the actors move around the stage that demonstrates the valuable contribution of movement director and choreographer Theophilus O Bailey.
The new ensemble cast is subtle and protean. Tobi King Bakare, Shakeel Haakim, Fela Lufadeju, Albert Magashi, Mohammed Mansaray, and Posi Morakinyo all play multiple roles, displaying emotional depth, comic flare, and sometimes gymnastic physicality. Though For Black Boys is not a musical in the traditional sense, they have ample opportunities to sing, resulting in moments of true beauty.
The bright pastels of the set are tonally divergent from much of the dialogue, the sound is cranked up to 11, and the lighting is intermittently so retina-searingly bright that it causes genuine discomfort, but these are small quibbles about a play that was met with riotous laughter and rapturous applause. Entertaining and enlightening, hopeful and humane, this production isn’t just For Black Boys…
For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy runs at the Garrick Theatre until 4 May, book tickets here
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