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Retrograde
Kiln  Theatre     Spring 2023

In 1955 the film actor Sidney Poitier was called into NBC and asked to sign a loyalty oath and to distance himself from the civil rights activist actor Paul Robeson. A refusal might have resulted in him being blacklisted and out of work.

Ryan Calais Cameron’s play Retrograde imagines how that conversation might have gone. It opens with a writer Bobby (Ian Bonar) arriving at the plush office of Mr Parks (Daniel Lapaine) to sign a contract for a new production.

Parks is a quick-talking Trumpian bully who we quickly suspect of being a racist. Bobby is a liberal who considers Poitier a friend.

Before the loyalty oath is even mentioned, Bobby is not entirely easy about the way Parks talks to Poitier, though his own language can at times be clumsy for instance telling Poitier 'I'm the blackest white guy you know.'

Encouraged by the banter of the two white men, the charming measured Poitier (Ivanno Jeremiah) describes something of his background including his accidental shift into acting. The intense snappy dialogue between the three very fine actors is engaging, imaginative, and sometimes witty.

With a surprisingly hostile edge, Parks creates much of the play’s tension. Very rudely he makes it clear he intends to speak with Poitier alone and clears Bobby from the room.

Telling Poitier to 'sit your little brown butt down', he begins to question him about his connection with civil rights activists such as Harry Belafonte and Paul Robeson. He follows this up with the threat of Poitier being called before the House Committee on Un-American Activities unless he denounces activists and signs the loyalty oath.

How Poitier responds to this gets quite a reaction from the audience.

The show’s writer Ryan Calais Cameron is making an impact at the moment not only with Retrograde but also with his popular West End transfer For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy…

Keith McKenna

Review - Retrograde - Kiln  Theatre 2023