As a famed singer and
actor persecuted for his radical politics and civil-rights campaigning,
Paul Robeson has the dimensions of an American tragic hero. And, even if
a 90-minute one-man show can't encompass the whole of Robeson's
extraordinary rise and fall, Tayo Aluko does a fine job in evoking his
dynamic presence and in reminding us of the inhospitable attitude to
dissent in the land of the free.
Robeson, as Aluko shows,
enjoyed a rapid ascent to the top in the 1920s and 30s: not merely for
his remarkable singing voice, but for his stage performances in
Showboat, The Emperor Jones and Othello. But, as a trained lawyer and
pastor's son with an inbuilt sense of injustice, Robeson became an
increasingly vocal critic of racial and class discrimination. It was,
however, his endorsement of the Soviet Union that ultimately wrecked his
career in the US. One particular speech he made in Paris in 1949 was
deemed unpatriotic, and thereafter Robeson had to endure years of public
abuse, passport loss and cancelled bookings before his health finally
broke.
Aluko skips lightly over
Robeson's marital problems and, only in a post-show discussion, reveals
the singer's upfront repudiation of Soviet antisemitism. But, although a
baritone rather than a bass, Aluko does a first-rate job in reminding us
of Robeson's vocal power in such songs as Old Man River and The Battle
of Jericho. Even more significantly he suggests, with the aid of Michael
Conliffe's piano accompaniment and Olusola Oyeleye's direction, that,
for Robeson, art and politics were inextricable: that singing became an
act of defiance against any form of oppression, which is why, when in
Britain, he bonded closely with the Welsh miners.
For those who
know little about Robeson, this touring production offers an admirable
introduction to a great pioneering performer.
Until 23 January. Box
office: 020-7387 6617
Theatre Technic
More details
Crossroads
Women, Registered charity no. 1134495,
Company limited by guarantee no. 7087291
