Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind unpacks racism and the toll of power dynamics on the cast of an up-coming Broadway play; a searing race play-within-a-play.
It’s not often a play is showing on both sides of the Atlantic at the same time. Alice Childress’ Trouble in Mind depicts the tension and discourse that occurs during the theatre rehearsals of a play surrounding the lynching of a black man; a play both written and directed by white men, which they think is an ‘anti-racist’ act, but the journey of this play reveals something else.
Wiletta Mayer (Moodie) enter the stage and gloriously takes in her rehearsal space. Through her interactions with the Doorman (Lilburn), the audience is shown that Wiletta has acted on this stage once before. She is an aging actor, who despite experiencing stardom, maintains a relentless passion. The audience witness Wiletta go from advising John (Adeosun), a young aspiring black actor, to be a “yes man” for their white director (Keenan), but eventually accepting that playing nice isn’t going to get you anywhere and opts to have her opinions vehemently heard, at the expense of her job.
The supporting cast are strong: Sheldon (Nri), an elderly actor who is conscious of his actions around white people, explains a lynching he witnessed when he was a child; and Millie (Agyai-Ampadu), a hysterically blunt actress who toes the line of speaking her mind and being aware of how she must act around her white boss, are both exceptionally written; all three provide stellar comic relief within a show that is packed full of social commentary.
Medina’s instruction to have an overdramatised presentation of the black characters within this play at first feels excessive. However, this soon eases and allows the ironic intention of this direction to shine through: making caricatures out of the stereotypes of black people and the roles they have had to play in film and tv (such as the ever reductive “Mammy” role) is both serious and farcical.
Overall, Medina’s production successfully tells Childress’ story and aids in providing a modern critical lens on supposed ‘white liberalism.’ Trouble In Mind does what it says on the tin and challenges the audience to seek justice, call out complacency, and as Wiletta says, “to go further and do better” for future generations. Medina’s production proves to be a powerfully satirical experience – one that is still just as relevant sixty years from when it was written.
Name of Production | Trouble in Mind
Year of Production | 2021
Venue | National Theatre
Cast | Tanya Moodie, Daniel Adeosun, Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Cyril Nri, Rory Keenan
Director | Nancy Medina
Writer | Alice Childress
Movement Director | Rachael Nanyonjo
Staff Director | Lakesha Arie-Angelo
Set/Costume Designer | Rajha Shakiry
Sound Designer| Elena Pena
Music | Nubiya Imani Brandon, Raffy Bushman
Lighting Designer | Nao Nagai
Dramatherapist | Samantha Adams
Dialect Coach | Hazel Holder
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