Race against time
Daniel Nelson Pphoto: © Robert Day
There’s no escaping race in The Fellowship, a drama about three generations of a British Caribbean family.
In the opening scene Dawn and Marcia, sisters (‘The Fellowship’) in their 50s, grill Dawn’s son, Jermaine, about a girlfriend. The suspicion is that it’s the white girl who Dawn believes was involved in the murder of her other son.
So far, so incendiary.
Later it is revealed that the sisters’ mother was saved from Windrush deportation to Jamaica only by late discovery of documents.
And that barrister Marcia is having an affair with a white MP and is asked to cover up a driving offence for him -– and, well, we can guess how that will turn out.
And that the sisters have been through a lot together on the front lines in Hackney but have taken different paths and have different attitudes to white people (“Pick any war, and any strife you care to mention and you will find a white man”, says Dawn). Both have little time for the other’s partner.
And, biggest reveal of all (well, perhaps not the biggest, but I’m not going to spoil the plot twists), activist Dawn has a favourite playlist topped by John Travolta.
There are many big moments in their story. Perhaps too many. In an effort to encapsulate decades of British Caribbean life playwright Roy Williams packs in so many ideas and off-stage events that they seem to prevent the production from bursting into life. He’s an experienced writer, though this, his first attempt at a panoramic family drama, leaves a couple of characters unexplored. In addition, the sparse set stops the tensions building.
Don’t get me wrong: there’s a lot to enjoy. The cast is excellent, despite a last-minute illness and subsequent role-swaps. It’s impassioned and funny and you want to know what happens next. Important personal and political issues are confronted, which is great. These issues are still often missing from “mainstream” theatre, though are increasingly present on London’s “Off Broadway” stages such as the Hampstead Theatre, where this production is running, the Royal Court and the Bush.
Williams is quoted in the Hampstead Theatre programme as saying that “it is unforgivable the way [the Windrush generation] has been treated over the last few years by the UK Government: shameful.” Some survivors of that generation, such as Williams himself, and increasingly their children, are telling it like it is.
Reflecting his generation’s struggle on stage is a vital contribution to validating their experience, to British society as a whole, and to their offspring: “I believe [the post-Windrush generation] are the most exciting generation this country has ever seen. We could do a lot worse than to listen and encourage them.”
Oddly, we don’t get too know much about Jermaine, though he calls out his mother’s description of his girlfriend (“White trash”) as racism.
Let’s hope Jermaine and Simone -– and hundreds of thousands of other teeenagers -– make a go of it. At least they will be able to watch plays like The Fellowship to get an idea of what their predecessors had to struggle through.
* The Fellowship is at the Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, NW3, until 23 July. Info: 7722 9301/ https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/