Moving, touching and at times laugh-out-loud funny, this striking musical – a take on race, sexuality and self – is like nothing else we’ve ever seen on stage…
Kyle Ramar Freeman heads up the cast of Michael R Jackson’s Pulitzer-winning play, straight from smash-hit reviews on Broadway and a host of Tony nominations.
It’s a play about a play (yes, say ‘meta’), as our protagonist Usher, a Black, queer theatre usher, is writing a play about, you guessed it – a Black queer man who, in turn, is writing a play about a Black queer man. Hence, that strange loop. But it’s not a messy contrivance on writer Michael R Jackson’s part – it’s a fascinating look into one man’s mind and heart.
Usher is an overweight, sensitive, creative twenty-something, with dreams of writing his own musical and getting beyond his job as usher for.a Disney Broadway show. He opens proceedings with Intermission Song, in which he sings about moving through the world in a ‘fat, Black, queer body – and introduces us to what will be an entertaining, sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious, journey into the heart of identity politics.
The six brilliant fellow cast members who spend much of Usher’s time on stage with him, sometimes shadowy in the background, sometimes up in his/our face, represent the young man’s inner thoughts and demons – including those hateful self-loathing comments his brain throws at him, and conflicting thoughts about his sexuality.
A Strange Loop can plumb pretty dark territory, at times. Such as the racism Usher faces from the gay community; friction with his own church-loving family and the notion, repeated more than once, that AIDS is ‘god’s punishment’.
But that inherent darkness is successfully offset by fun and irreverence, seen through its self-effacing humour (shown in the song Inner White Girl, for instance), gorgeous costumes, a bright set – think glitter, and lightbulbs – and some incredible choreography, to a backdrop of some top-drawer pop & r&b tunes.
But aside from an incredible script and simple yet stunningly effective stage lighting and sets, what makes this show a triumph is the performance of Ramar Freeman as Usher. For a show with no interval and a running time of 100 minutes, he has nowhere to hide, being on stage most of that time – and Freeman shines capturing his protagonist’s highs and lows.
This intimate, thoughtful yet also delightfully cutting show may not be what you expected, lurching as it does from hilarious to devastating. But it will touch you in a way you didn’t expect. And it’s most probably exactly what you needed.
Barbican Theatre, London, until 9 September. To book see www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2023/event/a-strange-loop.
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