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Category : "The Mountaintop"
David Harewood
August 25, 2009 01:35 PM
David Harewood in The Mountaintop
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Black plays are all too rare on London's West End, where the late August Wilson has only ever been represented once (with a flop production of Fences, starring Yaphet Kotto). So the presence of American dramatist Katori Hall's The Mountaintop on the Trafalgar Studios mainstage is something to cheer. The 85-minute two-hander takes place in a Memphis hotel room on the eve of the death of Martin Luther King in April 1968. In the play, David Harewood's explosively acted King is joined by the lively Lorraine Burroughs as a maid, Camae, who is not remotely what she at first seems. The play, and James Dacre's production of it, are being talked up for New York, where the 43-year-old Harewood has previously appeared as Othello at BAM and, at the Public Theater, as Shakespeare's Antony in an Antony and Cleopatra, directed by and starring Vanessa Redgrave. He also did a stint at St Ann's Warehouse in Woyzeck. The deep-voiced, powerfully built actor spoke to Broadway.com one recent afternoon about portraying an icon, settling down as a husband and father and a play he clearly holds dear to his heart. ...
The world premiere of Katori Hall's The Mountaintop is set to transfer to the West End. The acclaimed production, which first played at Theatre503, will begin performances at Trafalgar Studios on July 16 for a limited seven-week run. James Dacre directs.
The night before his assassination, Martin Luther King retires to room 306 in the now famous Lorraine Motel in Memphis after giving his legendary "I have been to the mountaintop" speech to a massive church congregation. When room service is delivered by a young woman, whose identity is a puzzle, King is forced to confront his past as well as his legacy to his people. The Mountaintop reimagines the events of King's final night.
David Harewood stars as Martin Luther King. He has appeared on stage in many of Shakespeare's leading male roles, including Othello and Antony opposite Vanessa Redgrave's Cleopatra. On film, he has been seen in Blood Diamond and The Merchant of Venice and will star as Nelson Mandela in Mrs. Mandela for the BBC later this year. Lorraine Burroughs, who will play the mysterious Camae, has been seen on stage at the Globe, Tricycle and Hampstead Theatres.
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