Terrific ensemble acting lifts play that is a little dated at the edges…
THIS is an enjoyable play on several levels – with fine performances throughout especially from the lead, Arinzé Kene.
His is the central character – Walker Holt – around which all revolves.
Horace (Karl Collins) ©MarcBrenner
On a personal note, I wondered whether the play would be quite so strong without him – as the other characters are a little more identikit, and rather predictable. There is also a good deal of humour which helps the play zip along, until its final stretch, when it goes a little more leftfield.
Having said that, this is an important play by Michael Abbensetts with additional material provided by Trish Cooke and says much about the British black business experience, if we can put it like that, during the 1970s. Abbensetts (1938-2016) was one of the leading writers of the day and is best known for the BBC drama series, ‘Empire Road’ which ran from 1978-79.
About British black entrepreneurship – perhaps a neglected subject in theatre more generally – the characters in this are West Indian (Guyanese) in origin.
Walker Holt is ambitious and enterprising – he runs a tailor shop and has dreams of starting his own fashion line – the gap between reality and his vision is sometimes actually sketched out in this production – with a few dream sequences.
He has a big order to fulfil – a series of alterations to a huge consignment of trousers must be completed within 24 hours.
Walker takes the task on – believing his employees, Horace (Karl Collins), Buster (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr) and driver & floor sweeper Courtney (Raphael Famotibe) can do all the alterations and deliver them to Mr Nat, (Colin Mace) the only white character, who needs them the next day.
This is the creative motor that drives the narrative – can the team deliver and can Walker bank the all important cheque that would then enable him to buy the shop outright and live out his business dreams of creating a fashion empire – everything for him rests on getting the job done.
Added to the mix is his wife Darlene (Cherelle Skeete); she is very much holding it all together, both at work and at home, as the main carer to their seven year old daughter who never appears.
The marriage is under also huge strain emotionally – largely because Walker is always working and has neglected his wife and daughter. To make matters considerably worse, Horace has his eye on Darlene and begins to woo her.
Without giving too much away, Horace and Walker also fall out over the work situation.
Walker is strongly written and we can see perhaps why Darlene was attracted to him initially but that ambition and the pressures of making it against the odds has taken its toll.
With the exception of Mr Nat – the other male characters all represent a sort of character we can all see at work – Buster is dependable and loyal and is waiting for his dear wife to deliver their first child; responsible and able, he responds to Walker, while at the same time can point out where Walker might be going wrong.
Courtney is young, astute and pretty cool, in all ways. While this play is set in the 1970s – all flares and flowery big collar shirts – the simmering tensions among the young (then) second generation of Britons from the Caribbean is beginning to surface – discriminated against, harassed by the police and often regarded with suspicion by many, they are beginning to agitate and organise against prejudice and terrible treatment.
The strength of ‘Alterations’ lies in the persona of Walker – despite his dictatorial tendencies (at work), his ambition and vision are attractive and you want him to succeed. Of course, his entrepreneurial zeal does need to be tempered or modulated, but at a time when so few went into business, it’s hard not to feel that the flame of hope he carries is essentially a good one, despite all his very personal failings. Abbensetts suggests that the price of success can be high and that people often lose sight of what is important.
The sets are imaginative and adept with rows of clothing racks suspended from high periodically moving up and down – sometimes in tune with the action on the stage, and other times it appeared more random or opaque (to myself, anyway).
This is a rich play in the themes that its covers and is not just a work that is wholly taken up with the issue of race, though it doesn’t shy away from that either – it has a lot to say about human (business) relationships; and Mr Nat (Mace) also has an important story of his own. (Sailesh Ram).
ACV rating: *** (out of five)
Listings
Alterations by Michael Abbensetts with additional material by Trish Goode, Lyttleton Theatre, National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 9PX, until April 5.
Here for more info & ticket booking
