Review by Neal Newman
April, 5, 2023
August Wilson, RADIO GOLF:
Sterling: Negroes got blindeyetis. A dog knows it’s a dog. A cat
Knows it’s a cat. But a Negro don’t know he’s a Negro. He thinks
he’s a white man.
Wilson’s play, being presented at the Arden Theatre Company, is about the past but takes place in 1997, which is contemporaneous with the premiere production in 2005. These blacks have come a long way from MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, or GEM OF THE OCEAN Wilson sets in the early 20th century. These characters drive expensive cars, work in nice offices, have upwardly mobile dreams, and, best of all, play golf, a true white man’s game. But the memories of the lost past drive the play and touch the soul.
Harmond Wilks, played by Kesserack Kemnew, is an Ivy League graduate who runs a redevelopment company. He says he is going to restore the decrepit Hill district of Pittsburgh but will instead replace it with Whole Foods, Starbucks, and the resultant neighborhood. He also wants to be Pittsburgh’s first black mayor. His boyhood best friend Roosevelt, played by Phillip Brown, is a fun-loving golf nut who fails to see that minority hiring, the result of required Federal tax breaks, is just another controlling white man’s trick. The two celebrate their good fortune by singing “HAIL, HAIL, THE GANG’S ALL HERE!” which is truly a white man’s song. The conflict develops when the men discover they have purchased an abandoned house illegally, threatening their entire project. Roosevelt reveals himself to be a materialistic sensualist and splits from his old friend.
These modern men are contrasted with voices from the past. Sterling, Brian Anthony Wilson, is a mature ex-con working as a handyman. He claims he’s a union member, but in truth, he is his own union. He shows uncanny wisdom when he advises Harmond that the Hill is dead. You can replace it, but you can’t bring it back. The other eccentric is Elder Joseph, Damien J. Wallace, a cranky older man who is smarter than he seems when his research reveals that he still owns the house. The house, by the way, in true August Wilson fashion, is 1839 Wiley, the setting of GEM OF THE OCEAN, and the home of Aunt Ester, the former slave.
Brian Anthony Wilson as Sterling, Phillip Brown as Roosevelt, Kerrerack Kemnew as Harmond
This production, directed by Kash Goins, throws emphasis on the eccentrics. Kemnew as Harmond and Zuhairah as his opportunistic wife Mame, who dreams of becoming a government PR stalwart, underplay their roles and lack the driving ambition needed to drive the plot. The first act meanders a bit but picks up in the second. Wallace’s cranky oldster has an amazing memory and, along with much-needed humor, delivers a powerful speech about racism in the 1940s. Brian Anthony Wilson’s Sterling is superb, bringing laughter with amazing vocal imitations of a Shakespearian stentorian and a hilarious white man. His delivery of the poetic speech commemorating Aunt Ester is a highlight.
Damien J. Wallace as Elder Joseph
Also superb is the technical crew. David P. Gordon’s office setting combines the upscale designs of the Wilks family with the graffiti, broken windows, and trash of the neighborhood. Thom Weaver’s lights seem to be harsh office fluorescents but still manage to soften the stage. Levonne Lindsay’s costumes are especially effective with Roosevelt’s overdone golf outfits.
RADIO GOLF also reveals Wilson as a magnificent poet. Harmond and Mame are given powerful speeches as well, but these don’t seem to land with the audience as those of the elders. Perhaps Wilson is saying when we lose the past, we lose the poetry.
RUNNING TIME: Two hours and forty minutes with one intermission.
The Arden Theater Company presents RADIO GOLF at 40 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia. Tickets can be obtained at boxofficer@ardentheatre.org. or by calling 215-922-1122.