Red Velvet, theatre review: Rich and relevant study of black actor who fought the system

This rich psychological study is also a shrewd portrait of the theatre as an institution, says Henry Hitchings
Eloquent intensity: Charlotte Lucas as Ellen and Adrian Lester as Ira
Henry Hitchings3 February 2016

Adrian Lester has been a coolly authoritative Othello, as well as a memorably physical Hamlet and the star of numerous TV shows — including seven of the eight series of Hustle. But he’s never been better than as Ira Aldridge, the black American actor pelted with abuse when he appeared as Othello at Covent Garden in 1833.

It is a performance of eloquent intensity — noble and detailed but with fire at its core. And the play, by his wife Lolita Chakrabarti, is a fine vehicle for Lester’s gifts. More than three years after an acclaimed premiere at Kilburn’s Tricycle Theatre, Indhu Rubasingham’s warm production gets a well-deserved run in the West End as part of the Kenneth Branagh Company’s year-long residency.

The action opens with Aldridge, nearly 60, preparing to take the stage in Poland. He fields earnest, tactless questions from a local journalist who has found her way into his dressing room. He’s a disillusioned figure, though still a magnetic one, and when we journey back into his past we understand his bitterness.

The 26-year-old Aldridge lands his big chance after Edmund Kean, the age’s most electrifying talent, collapses onstage. But it turns out that London isn’t ready for his courageously direct acting style — or for a black man to inhabit one of Shakespeare’s greatest roles. When the reviews appear, they drip with contempt. One critic laments the indecency of his co-star Ellen Tree’s Desdemona (played by Charlotte Lucas) being “pawed about” by a mere “servant”.

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Chakrabarti has crafted a rich psychological study that’s also a shrewd portrait of the theatre as an institution — its vanities and strange conventions, its politics and sense of community, the opportunities it presents for both progress and blinkered traditionalism. Sometimes the characters voice their views in terms that sound improbably modern, but it’s clear that, almost two centuries later, the challenges faced by Aldridge haven’t gone away, and Lester movingly articulates their painfulness.

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