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On not selling out
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Retrograde
Apollo Theatre, London
THIS fascinating play about actor and civil rights activist Sidney Poitier grips from start to finish.
Retrograde began life at the Kiln theatre in Kilburn, two years ago, prior to graduating on to the West End. Expertly directed by Amit Sharma, Ryan Calais Cameron’s sharp script is brought to life by some great performances from Ivanno Jeremiah (Sidney Poitier), Stanley Townsend (Mr Parks) and Oliver Johnstone (Bobby). The witty dialogue provides a great tempo to the essential plot, which revolves around temptation and betrayal.
Aged 28, Poitier is on the edge of making his acting breakthrough but in the fevered atmosphere of 1950s McCarthyite America, betrayal is required in order to make that leap. He must betray his friend Paul Robeson in order to prove himself a loyal American. The dilemma is nicely summarised with the biblical quote from Poitier as to “what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul.”
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by Jackie Kay