The Life and Death of Martin Luther King
Golden Goose Theatre, London

“THE only thing that I’m truly scared of is myself” is the line that lingers in the mind as the audience departs TNT Theatre’s turbulent retelling of MLK’s famous life.

Sandwiched in a discussion between his wife Corretta and his trusted right-hand man Ralph Abernathy during the Montgomery bus boycott, the almost-mythical Baptist minister seems consumed by self-doubt, as he does through much of this production.

Snappy vignettes of King’s campaigning life retell many of his victorious struggles from Selma, Alabama, to Washington DC with creative vigour.

They provide an ever-timely reminder of the grave injustices endured by African-Americans and the courage that was needed in their fight for civil rights.

Adrian Decosta, who also directs, manages to inject the lead role with the required righteous fervour of the great civil rights leader in a captivating first half, complete with a series of rousing freedom songs.

An expendable movement sequence punctures the intensity a little, but the shifting throughline of King’s relationship with the US media, personified in the character of fictional TV news reporter Jack Nader (an absorbing Will Batty), firmly maintains the intrigue. Blackmailed and beaten by an FBI agent, Nader’s descent into recklessness and alcoholism is matched by an unfamiliar descent from the title character in a short, sporadic second half.

Opening with an isolated dissection of Malcolm X and his politics, much of the material after the interval feels like a mild takedown of his more “moderate at heart” counterpart. Writer Paul Stebbings’ conclusion creates a blurry haze of reality and fiction which foregrounds MLK’s flaws. Weathered and weighed down by decades of struggle and intimidation, King is portrayed as a womanising wreck of a man who, as “the moral compass of America,” has lost his point. Meanwhile, Nader’s futile attempt to save him from his tragic fate rings hollow.

Nevertheless, with a commanding cast and a fresh angle on the conflicted soul that led the civil rights movement there is more than enough here to provoke discussion and provide entertainment.

On tour internationally. For more information see: tnttheatre.com.