Review: FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/ WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, Yard Theatre

Photo credit: Camilla Greenwell

The brand spanking new Yard Theatre has recently reopened its doors with a thrilling season kick, started by the London premiere of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. This ‘choreo poem’ has had enormous success across the pond, even adapted into a film by Tyler Perry, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Janet Jackson. This is a production that could have been epic and legacy defining, but unfortunately feels a bit of a damp squib.

for colored girls… is a patchwork of poetry and storytelling centred around black women’s experience largely of sexual violence and racism. This piece was first performed fifty years ago and although a lot of the content is agonisingly relevant still, this new production feels dated. For the Yard Theatre, an organisation that is so deeply rooted in its community and so invested in fresh and vibrant new talent, it feels insane for creatives not to have intervened and updated the script of this show. Shange’s original script is also keenly focused on the American experience which feels very alien for an audience in Hackney Wick, who are left entirely cold by knowing nods in the script to American neighbourhoods, customs and habits.

The ensemble cast are engaging and inspiring in their delivery but director Diane Page could have made more of the collective - a lot of the production falls into a monotonous rhythm with one person at a time stepping forward to deliver their testimony. At times, this piece feels a bit like an open mic night that’s gone on a bit too long without a break. The audience is left frustratingly without a grip on any characters or personalities - without which it is hard to establish a meaningful connection to what’s happening on stage.

This production really sings when the original music by Jammz gets involved, and the ensemble cast dance and move and create dynamic shapes onstage - but these moments are sadly few and far between.

Moments of wonder in a production that sadly falls flat.

*** Three stars

Reviewed by: Joan Ingleby

for colored girls… plays at London’s Yard Theatre until 17 October, with further info here.