Appropriate at The Donmar

Appropriate, now running at The Donmar, poses quite a logistical nightmare for the Stage Management team in general and the Props person in particular, for the stage is literally knee deep in paraphernalia when the play opens.  The piles of furniture, boxes and general detritus belong to the dead patriarch of the feuding Lafayette family, who have gathered together to try and sort it all out.  So, just another American family drama?  Actually, no, because black American playwright, Branden Jacobs-Jenkin’s bitterly funny play, cast entirely with white actors, has racism at its heart.

The family’s late, reclusive father has allowed the once grand mansion in Arkansas to fall into disrepair and everything has to be cleared before the mortgage company claims the property.  Bit by bit we’re privy to the fact the house sits in the middle of an old plantation and those slaves unfortunate enough to have worked there, are buried in the grounds, following various lynchings, which have been recorded in an old photo album.  Not the most pleasant of artifacts to be uncovered.  Was dear papa racist and perhaps anti Semitic into the bargain?  Or even more unsettling, a member of the Ku Klux Klan?  This extremely upsetting tome elicits differing reactions from each family member, with newly divorced and bitter Toni (the brilliant Monica Dolan in blistering formidable form) taking the defensive stance.  Her father’s views were and still are not to be questioned. Meanwhile, the young granddaughter, Cassie (Isabella Pappas) is keen to pop the pictures on Instagram, and once it emerges that they might be worth a ton of money, the majority of the family change their horror to excitement.

The remaining members of the clan comprise, Cassie’s father Bo Lafayette (the excellent Steven Mackintosh), her young brother Ainsley, Jewish mother, Rachael (Jaimi Barbakoff), Uncle Franz (Edward Hogg), his very young, ‘crystal waving’ girlfriend River (Tafline Steen) and Toni’s son Rhys (Charles Furness).  Led by Toni’s uncompromising acidic and foul tongued tirades, the siblings are continually at each other’s throats.  Bo, her middle brother is criticised for his insatiable thirst for money, whilst Franz, the youngest, is never allowed to forget his addiction problems and predilection for girls who are just that little bit too young.

Everyone plays their part perfectly and Jacobs-Jenkins, although pushing the boundaries with his dialogue, brings a subtle approach to the racism inherent in the Lafayette’s past.  Rather than labour his grievances over the black people’s treatment at the hand of white slave owners, he chooses to mock this middle-class, white family’s self-pitying greed.

Added to all this is a gothic thriller aspect, suggesting that the house is inhabited by the ghosts of the dead slaves.  Designer, Fly Davis, has not only created the perfect crumbling old homestead, but also the sense that spirits are lurking within its old walls.  Cue plenty of sound effects and jumpy moments!

This is Ola Ince’s debut as director at The Donmar and she helps to ensure that the playwright’s sly humour is never underplayed, we occasionally get the impression we’ve stepped into a ghost story and, importantly, enjoy a play that entertains and imparts a strong message.  I’m sure this is the first of many Donmar productions to have her name in the programme.