There are many stories, movies and plays that are written emulating the problems and horrors the African-American people underwent in search for freedom and equality. The fight for equal opportunities is a tale that has been heard in different avenues, however, the most vivid and well-detailed play of the struggle cannot be compared to the depiction in Lolita Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet. The play is a depiction of the life of Ira Aldridge and his struggle during the beginning of the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom. Aldridge is remembered as a fascinating man who was able to overcome all negativity and pursue his dreams of acting Shakespeare’s Othello at a time where this seemed almost impossible. However, his depiction in the play is mediocre and depreciating at best. Chakrabarti takes the achievements of Aldridge and depicts these events in such a manner that shows no relatable coherence to the history Aldridge and his struggle during this period. However, the play does get a few of the events correct and creates a patched up story to follow the lead set by the cues.
The Red Velvet is a play which, in as much as it downplayed the life of Aldridge and the events that occurred, depicts a perfect show of how common and rampant racism was in the nineteenth century. In the play, Aldridge is fighting with racism at every turn. He is fighting with castmates when they discover that he is black. His acting of Othello at the Covent Garden Theatre the beginning of a battle that had been ongoing. The reaction of people was so drastic that battling against such criticism would have taken the power, courage, ability and focus Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman and other freedom fighters of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Many of the newspapers were threatening to punish Aldridge for his actions, the cast and audience, in this trying to drive him out of the stage he was deemed to have dishonoured. The play was a good depiction of the struggles of an African-American person in the fight for freedom, opportunity and
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Without prior knowledge of the life of Aldridge, watching the play may be a picture of perfection, with slight and continuous areas where the audience is able to guess the flow of the storyline. Chakrabarti portrays the life of Aldridge as a seemingly mediocre and failed transition and fight. From the onset where she portrays Aldridge to be suffering from dementia, and the battle the young journalist was constantly undertaking with him is of no use in the current fight and struggle that Aldridge was undergoing in his life. Red Velvet is a seemingly mediocre play that only portrays the negative areas of Aldridge’s life and tops it off through the provision of information that is not related. It would have been appreciated if the play would have depicted Aldridge’s achievement even after playing Othello at Covent Garden and receiving an uproar of rejection, he continued to play at the Surrey Theatre a few days later. And from there in his later life toured Europe becoming a lecturer and as an actor.
The Red Velvet as depicted by Chakrabarti can be said to be a play where life and loneliness are combined. In the play, Aldridge is with vigour and marvel. There are spontaneity and improvisation in the play where Aldridge replaces Edmund Kean at Covenant Gardens to play Othello. The uproar at such a time when the balance of freedom of slaves hung on a thread and seemed to be under threat with any new motion or threat from the black community. The play is extremely detailed and provides the various reactions that were observed from Aldridge. He is deemed as the tragic figure in the play who is a genius and a proto-method actor, but the play as is very predictable. It is easy to identify the flow of the story as many of the characters state their positions a bit early in the play. The shortcoming s of the play in addition to was that it did not acknowledge the support Aldridge was receiving from other African American persons, rather, it ignored that side of the population and focused on they that were against him.
Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet is a play that observes the events of the past through the view of the present. It provides various situations and occasions from the past which are gravely similar to what is currently ongoing in the present. For instance, in the interview between Aldridge and the polish journalist, there are discriminatory similarities between the events of yesteryear and those of modern days that given in very explicit and excessive ways. The consistency in communicating the Chakrabarti’s message when relaying the story of Aldridge can only be assumed to be made that way in order for modern generations to understand what was going on. The communication set in the play is also depicted as a narration of the plight of Aldridge, a victim of colour, and his ultimate demise.
A comparison between the life of Aldridge and the current depiction of the play has no resonance or rhythm, however, the play is a proper attempt. When observed by itself, the play makes strides in trying to explain the struggle which the African-American people faced in order to overcome the challenges that lay in front of freedom and opportunities. The timeliness and proper understanding of the role of each character and how they can be adjacently compared to the people of the modern era to depict a very mild different between then and now is eye-opening.
The Red Velvet play is a glance at the various contemporary issues that have been ongoing since the attainance of freedom from slavery to modern day. The presentation of racism, non-traditional casting and other issues depicted from the life of Aldridge by Chakrabarti. The feel of the play is plastic and rehearsed and were very unconvincing. The play could use a few developments in acting and other areas to flourish better in the future.
