Theatre review: BLACK SUPERHERO

A rescheduled trip to a show I was meant to see a couple of weeks ago: Actor Danny Lee Wynter was also starring in his playwrighting debut BLACK SUPERHERO, but had to drop out mid-run for personal reasons, leading to a week of cancelled performances. Lewis Brown, who's performing with script in hand but rarely needing to consult it at this point, has replaced him as David, a black, gay actor whose career isn't exactly going the way he planned: He lives with his younger sister Syd (Rochenda Sandall) and works with her as the entertainment at children's parties. His avoidance of drink and drugs, and references to his therapy sessions, hint at some past trauma that's holding him back, but he blames his career problems firmly on not being attractive or masculine enough: His very buff friend Raheem (Eloka Ivo) is also black and gay, but he's doing well enough to be accepted on a celebrity-only dating app.

That's still nothing compared to the third old friend, King (Dyllón Burnside,) who's the star of a very popular superhero movie franchise. He's also someone David's been low-key in love with for years; when King announces that he and husband Stevie (Ben Allen) have made their relationship open, the two spend a couple of nights together that seem to be developing into something more when King invites David to accompany him to a press junket in Australia. There, an encounter with a sleazy producer (Ako Mitchell) inadvertently sets him on a path to confronting his daddy issues.

Wynter's play takes a little while to find its feet, and has a tendency to veer off-course even after that, making it yet another in the ongoing list of Royal Court shows that feel like they could have done with a bit more dramaturgy and development before being unleashed on a stage. That said, it also follows the Downstairs theatre's last show in feeling completely unlike anything else, for the most part in good ways. It's a tragicomedy whose comedy elements work very well, whether it's the central trio's amiable bitchiness, Syd's razor-sharp put-downs, Raheem's amiable himbo act, Stevie's tin ear to his own liberal clichés, or Dominic Holmes' queeny PR running off to top up everyone's drug stash.

And while "black" is the identity that makes it into the title, "queer" is every bit as represented in the play itself, whether in the inside references and gags that sometimes go very near the knuckle, or in the unapologetically sexy scenes: In an entertaining rant against Moonlight, David criticises the lack of sex scenes; while the play doesn't go in for anything too explicit (although a full rear nude scene from the best-looking one out of Pose should be enough to get anyone hot under the collar) it doesn't shy away from the sexual aspect of the story for a moment. Burnside brings a real edge of charm to his amoral superstar, while Brown makes David appealing through all his sometimes frustrating, obsessive tendencies. BLACK SUPERHERO's treatment of its more serious scenes is clumsier: There's interesting ongoing discussions about whether queer actors should get preferential casting in queer roles, but they don't always feel naturally integrated into the story, while in the second act there's the feeling of an abrupt gear change as it's time to deal with David's past.

But the visuals of Daniel Evans' production are another area where the show feels incredibly distinctive: Joanna Scotcher's set of triangles and diamond shapes is essentially quite simple but gives the impression of something I've never seen before, a nostalgia-tinged touch of sci-fi. Kinnetia Isidore's costumes for the superhero Craw and his cohorts tread a fine line between plausible and spoof (Craw's outfit is a Batman knock-off, the overt references to the Wakanda Forever salute suggest Black Panther, but the franchise is implied to be cheesier and less critically acclaimed than either of those.) Ryan Day's lighting meanwhile certainly lives up to recent comic book movies' tendency to shoot everything in darkness, although the murkiness is made up for by some epic effects, like the projections onto falling sand near the end. All in all, if BLACK SUPERHERO meanders a bit too much to feel like the total package, it entertains and impresses along the way, and certainly provides the unapologetically queer mainstream content it feels has been lacking elsewhere.

BLACK SUPERHERO by Danny Lee Wynter is booking until the 29th of April at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Downstairs.

Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: Johan Persson.