22 September – 8 October

At the opening of last night’s press night at the Tobacco Factory Theatre we were treated to a gentle spoken word piece by the poet Sukina Nooh, in which she gave tribute to black fathers – men who were ‘there’ for their children – committed warm-hearted and practical partners laying bedrocks of love for the next generation. This later felt in stark contrast to Daniel J Carver’s extraordinarily powerful play Revealed, which laid bare how racism inflicts emotional damage on black men, and how that hurt can be passed from one generation to the next. Carver’s piece never flinches from confronting the stereotyping, the struggle to communicate and the need for self-respect that can define the black male experience within a family under pressure.

A lovingly created set by Amanda Mascarenhas portraying the interior of a West Indian café is the backdrop for the play. The walls appear to be splitting apart – a hint of something unhinged, something ‘blowing’. Outside, we hear a riot going on – raised voices, glass smashing, police sirens. There is menace beyond this cosy interior, a metaphor for the sense of pressure Sidney (Everal A Walsh) the proprietor, his son Malcolm (Daniel J Carver) and his grandson Luther (Dylan Brady) find themselves constantly under. Carver’s writing expertly dissects the tensions between three generations of men trying to find their way in a changing and threatening world. His skill as a writer is to make us find sympathy for them all without compromising any of their frailties. Carver, Walsh and Brady’s complete command and razor-sharp delivery of the script leaves you feeling you have been in a room with your own relatives hammering it out. In moments of crisis, truth will out.

But this is by no means a relentless journey into night. Carver’s play has delicate moments, where pent-up emotions break and both need and love is expressed – particularly between grandad Sidney and his grandson Luther, who has a very different set of struggles to contend with. And there are amusing moments of generational banter – such as old-school Sidney recalling his lothario days to his much more gender-sensitive grandson, or in Malcolm’s complaints that there were no vegan options on the menu to attract new customers.

While Sidney has harboured a secret about himself that has cast a pall over his son’s life, Malcolm has developed an exterior shell to make up for the perceived lack of love from his dad. He’s become a hard man, a pent-up raging man short on patience, quick to violence as a means of expression. And he’s exasperated by his old man’s inability to change with the times, his lackadaisical approach to the business of the café, even more so with his more sensitive son’s life choices. Carver’s Malcolm oozes a fury that is palpable.

Revealed is an extraordinarily powerful depiction of the conflicts and challenges facing black men. This Red Earth Collective, Tobacco Factory collaboration with support from the National Theatre’s Generate programme is a triumph and deserves wider exposure. The writing, the performances, the direction and production are all world class – I urge you to see it.

★★★★★  Simon Bishop, 28th September, 2022

Photo credit:  Mark Dawson