By Michele Markarian
“Detroit Red” by Will Power. Directed by Lee Sunday Evans. Presented by Arts Emerson, Emerson Paramount Center, 559 Washington Street, Boston, through February 16.
A tense, noir-ish film clip of a man holding a gun in a downtown Boston jewelry store is superimposed across the stage. “It takes point two seconds for a gun to respond to your finger’s light touch”, begins the twenty-year old Malcom Little, aka Detroit Red, at the top of the world premiere of “Detroit Red”, which covers the years the young Malcolm X lived in Boston. His early life was troubled – a murdered father, a mother who suffered a nervous breakdown, an older sister with health complications – and his struggle to find his place in the world is marred by his treatment at the hands of white people.
It’s a tense, febrile ninety minutes, starting with Berryman, who gives an intelligent, visceral, kinetic performance. He is tightly coiled, ready to pounce, but somehow manages to be thoughtful. The playwright does not spare us the young man’s anger; his treatment of Sophia is positively brutal (I had to wonder why she stayed with him, particularly after describing him as “fun”. Uh, if you call threatening bodily harm fun). England-Nelson is excellent in this and her other roles, ranging from an ignorant cracker traveling for business to a desperate, lonely middle-aged white male trolling the staff for sex. Gibson is also terrific as Shorty and multiple roles, including a Roxbury churchgoer and a train conductor anxious to feed his family and rise up in the world. Director Sunday-Evans keep the pace taut, and Adam Rigg’s simple set works well against the inner chaos of Malcom’s world. Alan C. Edwards’ lighting design is dark, I assume to convey the feeling of film noir that signifies crime and despair, but I admit to struggling periodically with the dimness.
Unlike a lot of biographical theater, “Detroit Red” unfolds in real time, which makes for a more emotionally immersive experience. The life of Malcolm X would go through many changes; the one represented in “Detroit Red” isn’t often examined at such close range. It’s an interesting, disturbing and truthful portrayal of an activist whose life, like those of so many others, was tragically cut short. For tickets and information, go to: https://artsemerson.org/
