The Mountaintop

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I wanted to jot down a few thoughts about this Samuel L. Jackson/Angela Bassett play, since if I don't do it now, I'll probably forget what I want to say while I'm away on vacation...

Let me say that both Jackson and Bassett are incredible on stage. Jackson's Martin Luther King Jr was a complex character, and Jackson played the complexity well. Angela Bassett's Camae is a fictional character, who at first seems to be a simple sounding board for MLK's need to talk to someone in the Lorraine Hotel after giving his Mountaintop speech in a Memphis church.

Spoiler Alert- Spoiler below
Those familiar with history will know that the speech was given the night before MLK was shot, and thus may not be surprised when Bassett's room service maid turns out to an angel of death come to prepare MLK for his return "home."
End Spoiler


Most of the show takes place in the hotel room in Memphis, and while the floor space itself was good, the ceiling seemed a bit low and I wondered if people higher in the mezzanine might have trouble seeing the rear of the set.

Both actors are using appropriate Southern accents, but at points I had trouble understanding each of them. I'm not sure if that was due to the accents of the speed of the speech.

The show runs 1 hour and 20 minutes with no intermission, and I must admit, there were a number of times where I found my mind wandering and wondering when and how the playwright was going to end things.

The playwright shows a lot of what I assume are her personal feelings and philosophy bleed into the work. Which I found heavy-handed. And I found an intentional anachronism very annoying.


Ultimately, I walked out of the play a bit unsatisfied. While the acting was great, the story itself was not my cup of tea.

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Comments

[Paula]

You were right about that monologue at the end though. Bassett\'s delivery was otherworldly. I didn\'t realize I was crying until she was done, I was that enthralled.