Ron Atkinson was forced to resign for calling Marcel Desailly some pretty despicable things. People say far worse in Dael Orlandersmith's play; the surprising thing is that all of them are black. Is racial oppression even more insidious when it comes from within? Orlandersmith does not so much answer this question as grapple with it tenaciously for close to two hours in a show that was largely built to accommodate her own experience.
Her autobiographical shows have become a cult draw in New York theatre clubs; and the intimate, off-Broadway feel of the newly refurbished Everyman makes it the perfect venue for this British premiere.
The play's scope is large, but its resources are small: two actors, the script and very little else, although the parched yard and clapperboard house-front creates a suitably down-home feel for the South Carolina setting.
For the first hour or so, it's veranda theatre: Alma, who wishes her skin were lighter, and Eugene, who wishes his were darker, recline on the porch swing and spin an unhurried skein of interconnecting monologues about first awareness, adolescent awakening and disillusionment with their folks.
Indhu Rubasingham's production has a sudden jolt of energy, however, when Alma escapes this suffocating life of low expectation for a college career in New York. Eugene follows, but feels displaced, and both are sucked back down south for the shattering denouement.
The stamina-sapping performances of Cecilia Noble and Kevin Harvey had the audience clamouring to its feet; and, although the play presents a somewhat uncomfortable ride, it's a salutary reminder that the issues surrounding racism are not always black and white.
· Until May 8. Box office: 0151-709 4776.
