Paul T Davies reviews Underground Railroad Game at the Traverse Theatre presented as part of the Edinburgh Fringe.
Underground Railroad Game
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe
15 August 2018
5 Stars
Welcome to Hanover Middle school, where the lesson is the history of slavery and America's scarring and its complex race relations. Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard have created a dazzling and confrontational production that exhilarates and shocks in equal measure.
Scene after scene draws lines and then crosses every one as our liberal beliefs are challenged when the teachers have an affair. We, the class, are given a sharp lesson not just about history, but the minefield of mixed race relationships, there is no hiding place. Brilliantly performed, the play deals with power and sex, political correctness and racism and becomes an unforgettable piece. An S and M game in which she is the slave owner is, literally, exposing, you hear the whip of history while witnessing a powerful use of the N word that underlies the complexities of status and patriarchy.
It's highly original, smart, funny, shocking and a play you will never forget. I worried that audience participation hater me would have to play a game, but instead I witnessed a play and performances of searing honesty. Fight for a return ticket in Edinburgh, or catch it at the Soho theatre in the autumn!
BOOK NOW FOR UNDERGROUND RAILROAD GAME
Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
Stay in the spotlight
Get the latest theatre news, reviews and exclusive offers straight to your inbox.
