SEATTLE – Playwright August Wilson finished “Radio Golf” shortly before his death last October.
The Seattle Repertory Theatre’s production of this emotionally and politically charged work is a reminder of the magnitude of that loss.
Wilson, who died of cancer in Seattle, was a unique and important voice in American theater, a poet as well as a playwright. His cannon of 10 plays that chronicle and illuminate the history, dreams and heartbreaks of black Americans in the 20th century, decade by decade, is his legacy to us.
“Radio Golf” is the 10th and final play in the cycle, and it’s fitting that the Rep decided to alter its 2005-06 season to present this work in tribute to Wilson. The company has a long collaboration with the playwright, having now presented all but one of the 10 plays in the cycle.
| Review “Radio Golf”: A Seattle Repertory Theatre production through Feb. 18 at the Bagley Wright Theater, Seattle Center. Tickets, $10-$46, 800-900-9285, 206-443-2222 www.seattlerep.org. |
“Radio Golf” takes place in the same neighborhood of most of Wilson’s work, the Hill District of his native Pittsburgh. It’s the 1990s, and this historically black and blighted area is ripe for urban renewal, and successful black entrepreneurs can make it happen.
But there are conflicting forces at work in this effort, money to be made but at a cost to the people and the historic neighborhood.
“Radio Golf” gets to the heart of this conflict in the Rep’s production, skillfully directed by Kenny Long and performed by a superb cast.
The setting is a redevelopment office in the Hill District, a makeshift jumble of telephones and strewn papers, office furniture and posters. Designer David Gallo has embedded this office inside an amazing scene of urban decay with the debris of a rotting neighborhood filling the stage.
Real estate developer Harmond Wilks is the heir of a successfully black family that made its wealth in real estate and other business ventures in the Hill District
Wilks (beautifully played by Rocky Carroll) and his partner, Roosevelt Hicks (James A. Williams), are on the cusp of a big redevelopment deal: a project that will bring them money, revitalize the neighborhood and maybe even secure Wilks’ election as the mayor of Pittsburgh.
One old house stands in their way, a historic building that was once home to a woman of mythical status in the neighborhood.
Elder Joseph Barlow, crazy Old Joe (played by Anthony Chisholm), shows up claiming that he owns the house, an event that sets in motion a series of forces that will compel Wilks to choose between doing the deal or doing the right thing.
Hicks wants to make money and play some golf. Wilks’ wife, Mame (Denise Burse), is a smart and ambitious woman concerned that her husband make the right decisions to further both their careers.
Sterling Johnson (John Earl Jelks) is another crusty character who challenges Wilks. He’s a rough-hewn handyman with more street smarts than anyone in the room.
When Wilks boasts, “We’re going to bring the Hill back,” Johnson replies: “How you gonna bring it back? It’s dead. It takes Jesus Christ to bring it back. What you mean is you gonna put something else in its place.”
Johnson and Old Joe put the squeeze on Wilks at every turn, and Wilks’ transformation is the heart of this drama.
“Radio Golf” is full of raucous humor and the long and passionate speeches in the best tradition Wilson’s plays.
His voice has been silenced, yet lives on in the body of his work and in this remarkable play.
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