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The Gift
Theatre Royal Stratford East
JUMPING from 1862 to the present and back again, Janice Okoh’s The Gift charts the experiences of two black women, both called Sarah and both navigating the racial politics of their historical moments.
More than 150 years may separate them but they share some disturbing similarities — two threatening worlds lurk outside comfortable drawing rooms, with invasive visitors intruding and social interactions structured by racial bias.
Okoh’s smart script portrays a world in which the British social rituals of tea and politeness work to mask and hide how colonialism is still a cultural issue. Act Two’s powerful final moments, as Simon Kenny’s wonderful set opens up and modern-day Sarah (Donna Berlin) is transported away, demonstrate the real extent of the pain that causes.
In the final act — striking in its vision and meriting more space to develop — Berlin’s Sarah is transported into the Victorian world of the Sarah we met in act one, Princess Sarah Bonetta Davies (Shannon Hayes).
Her character is based on the Yoruba princess “given” to Queen Victoria and between them they search for understanding and some kind of freedom.
Dawn Walton’s well-directed production is anchored by the performances of Berlin and Hayes, with the latter wanting to teach other African women how to participate in British social rituals as the production’s opening.
But Hayes wonderfully demonstrates that there’s a frustration bubbling under the surface and when it erupts it’s a volatile and affecting dramatic moment.
Berlin offers a nuanced and affecting performance and her comic timing as Aggie, the maid learning to take tea, is spot-on.
But it’s as the modern-day Sarah where she really shines, portraying a woman hurt and frustrated by her neighbours’ prejudices but also ready to offer a challenge.
This thoughtful and important play is well worth catching, either at Stratford East or during its national tour.
Runs until February 15, box office: stratfordeast.com, then tours until March 11, details: eclipsetheatre.org.uk
