THIS cross-fertilisatory season of British Afro-Caribbean arts, under the Zebra Crossing umbrella, is organised by British black theatre's guiding spirit, Yvonne Brewster. Even by her inexhaustible standards, it marks yet another giant leap forward.
It's not just what is being said, but the way it is said that impresses. Dorothea Smartt and Shirlee Mitchell's elegiac mediation on the death of parents, From Me To You, for example, is a seamless carpet of remembrance in words and pictures - a rite of passage that pays homage to grief and what has gone before at the same time as it celebrates the journey from the Caribbean to a new breed of black Britons, Smartt's own London-born New Woman.
Smartt's words stroke and coil themselves around you. In contrast, Sol B River's To Rahtid, performed by Angela Wynter, lashes at you. A kaleidoscope of sound, it starts where Beckett's Not I leaves off, compressing the pain and humiliation of years of racial oppression in the impressions of a few shattered moments.
Technically extraordinary, it's still no preparation for le soir avec roney f-m - performance artist Ronald Fraser-Munro. A regular visitor to Glasgow, Fraser-Munro's lethal, uncomfortable mixed-media dance of death makes us as much his aunt sallies as British theatre culture, the Royal Family and ageing jazz singers.
A bitter middle section draws us into laughing at one of his alter-egos, a dustbin-dwelling god figure - ``I want to do something to you but I can't remember what it is'' - only to over-turn our willing collusion in a chilling reminder of our desensitisation to the cruelty around us. The fury is palpable. So, too, the talent. Unforgettable.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article