Amid the rage of World War I and a deadly outbreak of influenza, The Deep South 1918 is the setting for Wedding Band, a painful and poignant drama about an intense and interracial romance. These were times when it was actually illegal for a black and a white person to marry. Written in 1962 by Alice Childress – perhaps with a Civil Rights lens, it’s taken this long to debut on a London Stage.
Julia, a black woman and Herman, a white man, have been lovers in secret for 10 years. Julia (Deborah Ayorinde making her stage debut) moves into Fanny’s yard hoping for a nice quiet place to live discreetly, after having seemingly been mysteriously ousted from her previous abode. Instead she finds a loud and lively lot in her neighbours who are understandably shocked at her choice of partner.
“It’s on a short run so go see it – it’s well cast, well-acted and just such a good show”
Fanny is the affected tea leaf reading landlady with delusions of grandeur, Lula whose adopted son Nelson is a soldier, praises the lord and dodges her bills, while Mattie is the feisty mother to Teeta, makes candy while she awaits her husband’s safe return from the war.
The romance is quite ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in that the love is sweet, intense and doomed. When Herman (David Walmsley) is taken by the dreaded flu, a forced meeting between his overtly racist mother and sister and Julia ensues and the interaction is quite raw and uncomfortable to watch.
For me, a special Afridiziak shout out goes to the nippers –Saskia Holness and Poppy Graham who play Teeta and Princess the two little girls –the memory of the scene where Princess demands Teeta calls her ‘M’aam’ will stay a while.
Despite the intenseness, there is plenty of humour littered throughout this emotional exploration of race and class, you’ll laugh…you’ll gasp and perhaps leave like I did, thinking although things are not perfect in this diverse society of ours, we’ve (slowly) come quite a long way. It’s on a short run so go see it – it’s well cast, well-acted and with direction from Monique Touko, it’s just such a good show.
Need to know: Wedding Band is at the Lyric Hammersmith until 29 June 2024 | See listing
