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BrumHour saw The White Card at the invitation of Birmingham Rep.
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
This production features strong language.
Review: The White Card at Birmingham Rep
A challenging and thoughtful 85 minutes.
Written by Claudia Rankine, directed by Natalie Ibu
Charlotte (Estella Daniels) a Black photographic artist is invited to dinner by Eric (Nick Blakeley) at the New York home of Charles (Matthew Pidgeon) and Virginia (Kate Copeland), before dinner their son Alex (C J Coleman) arrives back from a protest.
Set during the Trump presidency, The White Card is split into two distinct parts, told almost in real time but with a time jump of around a year between the two, the tension from the first part is still riding high in the second part and only continues to rise.
There are many issues covered and discussed by the characters over the play, particularly covering Black Lives Matter and white complacency, asking the question, how do you become an ally in the correct way? And what does that even mean?
At times this is very uncomfortable and there are a few moments of humour within this largely serious production. The set is three walls featuring artwork, one of which becomes unveiled during the first act and gains gasps from the audience. Several moments that caused audible shock from the audience and brought out such a response, show this is a powerful piece of work.
There is an unexpected moment of music in the scene change. This helps bring relief to the play, which ultimately brings out large questions about its subject matter.
A challenging and thoughtful 85 minutes. The White Card is at Birmingham Rep until 18th June. Book tickets here: birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-white-card.
