The meaning of its title only becomes apparent some way through Joel Drake Johnson’s slippery play about workplace racism. It happens during a monologue about a group of white, male commuters on a bus, and it drops into the play like a perfectly aimed stone smashing a glass house.
There is no better place than the office to dissect the worst of people’s behaviour, and Johnson does just that to unsettling comic effect, in a piece set in the consulting rooms of smug Chicago surgeon Williams (Bo Poraj). Williams wants to be rid of Jaclyn (Tanya Moodie), a black secretary who is returning to work after an absence, and he manipulates the eager-to-please Ileen (Elizabeth Berrington) into spying on her colleague. But Jaclyn has good reasons not to give up her job without a fight.
There is much to enjoy and and much to squirm about in this comedy, which zips along and is just as manipulative as the characters are. Jacyln behaves in a manner that may have you wondering whether the racist Williams has good reason for dismissing her, and she has her own prejudices towards Muslims and her Mexican neighbours.
The way white privilege operates is neatly skewered, as is IIeen’s failure to police her imagination. So it’s a pity that, in exposing the increasing paranoia and madness of racism, Johnson’s plotting becomes so contrived. Fortunately, both Moodie and Berrington bring psychological acuteness and sharp comic timing to their roles. The show doesn’t quite fulfil its initial promise, but at its best it’s as sharp as a shard of glass.
•Rasheeda Speaking is at Trafalgar Studios, London, until 12 May. Box office: 0844-871 7615.
