Jitney, an August Wilson work from his American Century Cycle, is a beautiful character study of black men trying to survive in a country that is firmly against them. August Wilson's drama takes place in a 1977 Pittsburgh taxicab office staffed entirely by black men. In a dark, dimly lit workplace, five men joke together, occasionally interrupted by passengers, family members, or rage-filled outbursts.
August Wilson's groundbreaking contemporary classic, directed by Tinuke Craig and following an outstanding run at Leeds Playhouse, examines the tenuous link between eight men living, loving, and working in a racially segregated post-Vietnam America. It is a collaboration between the Old Vic, Headlong, and Leeds Playhouse.
Excellent performances propel this fascinating piece of history, which still has a strong impact today. It is extremely vivid and yet still relevant today. While wearing large collars and even larger flares, the eclectic group of cab drivers argue, make jokes, and dance. Each character who storms in and out when summoned to pick up a passenger feels startlingly real.
Then there's the impoverished Youngblood (Solomon Israel), who alters his voice when speaking on the phone with a white guy in order to increase his chances of getting a home. Turnbo (Sule Rimi) is a defensive, immature, and meddling character who constantly meddles in other people's lives. Then there's Doub (Geoff Aymer), the endearing but pessimistic character who wishes for peace.
The main characters are ostensibly Youngblood, the haughty Vietnam veteran who has to support a fiancée and a small child, and his adversary Turnbo, a middle-aged troublemaker who picks on everyone. Sule Rimi, a loose-lipped, provocative, bomb-fuse of a man, is excellent as the latter, and Solomon Israel is excellent as the former.
The significantly more substantial female characters from Wilson's later plays are also missing, as is a sense of the physical size of the world outside Jitney's cramped interior. Craig's stage additions are greatly appreciated, and the foundation of the world and the very fabric of life that Wilson would later adopt are already present and unforgettable.
But ultimately, this is a beautiful, densely textured piece of work that manages to be both specific and general. Other works by Wilson have been performed in London, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Fences, and King Headley II, and recent film adaptations of the first two have raised awareness of the works. Jitney remains my favourite so far.
