I have been seeing plays (quite a lot of them, in fact) but they have, by and large, been of such unremitting mediocrity that I have felt quite dispirited and not inclined to write a review. The catch-up post of mediocrity is on its way, for those who relish such things.

I was blown out of my January torpor, however, by the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company’s presentation of Red Velvet. This is the true story of Ira Aldridge, a black American who took over for the great Edmund Kean in the part of Othello on stage at Covent Garden in 1833. His performance was well received by the audience, but the racist critics of the time savaged him, and he was removed after only two performances. The story itself is astonishing enough, but the play was well constructed and very moving.  Lolita Chakrabarti’s play originated at the Tricycle, and focuses on imagined incidents from Aldridge’s life, which must have been an extraordinary one. It is an excellent play and extremely topical, given the ongoing conversation about diversity in the performing arts.

The play would not have been a success without Adrian Lester’s outstanding performance.  It begins and ends with time in Poland at the end of Aldridge’s life, and Lester is wonderful as an old man with a fierce sense of pride in his accomplishments and regret at his failings, understandable though they certainly are. But the highlight of the show is the central section, in which Aldridge takes over for the great Kean, facing the blatant racism of the time, prejudice against Americans and suspicion of his desire to use a more naturalistic style of acting.

It is a measure of Lester’s acting skill that he made even the mannered, gestured acting of the time work, and I wanted more than the brief glimpses of Othello provided (his Othello at the National was outstanding and is fondly remembered). Charlotte Lucas was sympathetic and skilled as Ellen Tree/Desdemona, Emun Elliott was nuanced as Aldridge’s French friend/promoter, and Ayesha Antoine’s serving girl well performed and with a heart and mind decidedly of her own.

There are several shocking moments in the play which I will not ruin for those who want to see it (unlike many newspaper critics, who blithely reveal the final coup de theatre). All I will say is that they show us both how far we have come as a society and how very, very far we have yet to go. Lester’s performance is unmissable and the rest of the production very good indeed. Enjoyable, and important.