Urban World

Central Lines: A Day at the Racists

 Cast List
Jason Maza, Chetna Pandya, Clint Dyer, Trevor Cooper, Michelle Butterly, Nigel Lindsay, Ony Uhiara, Adam James, Stephen Lloyd
Written by
 Anders Lustgarten
Directed by
 Lisa Goldman

A day at the racists is a work in progress. I, for one, cannot wait to see the finished product!

The title does not do this piece justice at all. It sounds like your run-of-the-mill commentary on racism (that’s just what we all need, more people to TALK about racism). Yet this goes nowhere justifying what this play really deals with.

The play deals with, or rather questions, the rise of the BNP in parts of London and Essex. Its vehicle is a BNP trying to put together a successful election campaign with a mixed race candidate, Gina, who  is half-white, half-Pakistani. The play tries to get beneath the public face of the BNP and presents four very different party members, each with a back story that goes someway to explaining how they ended up in the BNP. Some noble, some so hateful, so downright-stereotypical it’s enough to put all non-whites off going past Barking on the tube.

The actors, every one of them, are superb. Incidentally, they had seen the script only 10 hours before the play – work in progress – and so for the most part, they read the script as they went. I hasten to add that this does not diminish the force of the performances as much as you would think. I will say this though, there’s something to be said for ‘reading the script’ as a dramatic technique. It means that the experiences of the players are opened up to the audience. We could all be members of the BNP if we chose to be. Anyone can be a member. It makes the whole thing that much more playful and sinister simultaneously.

I really liked this play. It would be far too easy to say that it doesn’t touch on all the possible ‘back-stories’ and so barely scratches the surface of the issue but it tries its hardest, is very well written and is superbly entertaining along the way.

I can’t wait for the finished piece!!!