Through September 29
THE AFRICAN COMPANY PRESENTS RICHARD III Lorna C. Hill Theatre/Ujima Theatre Company
By Augustine Warner
Shakespeare is White people’s property, at least in the time and the place of Carlyle Brown’s “The African Company Presents Richard III.”
It’s just over two centuries ago in the Lower Manhattan of the early 19th Century, as slavery in New York State was going away and slavery in the British Empire was under attack, eventually leading to abolition.
New York City was deeply involved in the slave trade and the power structure backed the Confederacy in the Civil War.
The heart of the theater scene in those early years was the Park Theatre, near where City Hall is now in Manhattan.
It was dominated by Shakespeare, with a constant flow of British tragedians visiting, led by Junius Brutus Booth (yes, that family).
The imperious Stephen Price (Connor Graham) runs the Park.
Suddenly, he’s worrying because a Black company, The African Company, has expanded the entertainment in the raucous African Grove, adding Shakespeare’s “Richard III.”
He doesn’t want any interference with the large crowds coming to his theater to see “Richard III,” very close by.
Price turns to his place in the power structure and police and fire marshals start shutting down The African Company, violently, people like The Constable-Man (Lucas Lloyd).
This is all mostly true and the names of those involved are well known in Manhattan history.
There are three key figures in The African Company, Papa Shakespeare (Gerald Ramsey), William Henry Brown (Johnny Rowe) and James Hewlett (Brian Brown).
Brown and Shakespeare are from the same caribbean island, sugar and slavery.
To them, Shakespeare is a remembrance from the people who ran that island.
Hewlett is Richard in the production, moonlighting from his day job as a waiter in a fancy rich White hotel, something Price knows.
Costume master Jennifer Simpson has put him in an elaborate tail coat suit for him to strut upon the urban stage.
Price’s motives are clear, power and money.
The motives of The African Company are less clear.
Certainly, they include money since their production is drawing large crowds to an already crowded African Grove.
Seemingly, they see Shakespeare as a way to break into the power structure which their time has closed to them.
It certainly shows the importance of “Richard III,” demonstrating a handicap doesn’t slow evil.
Having seen the play a large number of times, Connor Graham could play a wonderful Richard.
“The African Company Presents Richard III” is proof, again, that culture isn’t separate from the wider society and can be a weapon in the culture wars and the play shows why.
Director Curtis Lovell has a strong cast to work with to convey the story, particularly Graham, along with Hewlett, Ramsey and Brown.
See it.
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