The White Card

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Wed 08 Jun 2022 - Sat 18 Jun 2022

Claudia Rankine's play is very firmly set in recent events in the United States of America but its discussion and the questions it poses are just as relevant in 2022 UK.

Packed into 90 minutes and currently being performed at the Birmingham Rep Studio, the play challenges us to consider a whole host of issues including the role of art as social commentary and its ability to promote change, power imbalances between black and white people, cultural appropriation and how different cultures and races are represented through art.



Wealthy white American couple Charles and Virginia fill their apartment with art and run a foundation, which they believe helps promote debate and understanding of what they perceive as the black experience in America. Art dealer Eric has discovered Charlotte, an emerging black artist who he believes the couple should invest in and so they invite her round to dinner.

Also round the table is the couple's son Alex, freshly returned from an anti-Trump protest, who, we are told, has marched for every cause under the sun. But as the wine flows and the conversation deepens, the debate rapidly turns sour with self-deception and misunderstanding on the menu.

The family have their own crises and there are some unpalatable facts revealed, not least about how their fortune has been made and who they are prepared to stand up and fight for individually and together.

Rankine's script pulls no punches and there are audible gasps around the room at some of the comments made. The reason the play works so well is because Charles and Virginia are not Swastika wearing Ku Klux Klan members we could easily dismiss as fanatics, they are people who believe they are acting with the best of intentions. And when challenged, they retreat into a position that Charlotte should be grateful for their interest, rather than questioning their views.

Estella Daniels brings the right balance to Charlotte. Here is a woman who remains polite while posing those questions. She has an empathy for Virginia's plight as a mother which makes Virginia's lack of empathy for Charlotte all the more disappointing.



Indeed Virginia, played by Kate Copeland, is emotionally brittle and has difficult relationships with all the characters. We quickly learn her relationship with her husband is anything but perfect and that appearance means everything to her. When the walls come tumbling down and their problems are exposed, she hits back at Charlotte with venom.

Matthew Pidgeon's Charles believes that if he talks long enough, he will convince Charlotte of his own viewpoint and that she is misguided not to trust him as the custodian of how the black experience in America should be depicted. So much so, that he follows up the dinner with a visit to her studio months later where he discovers the impact of their discussion on both her artwork and her approach to him.

Directed by Natalie Ibu, there is a sensitivity to the production which ensures we see these people not just as they view themselves but also through the lens of their fellow characters. There are moments that are without doubt uncomfortable but that is the point – this is a play to provoke further response and discussion. One feels Rankine would be hugely disappointed if the debate ended with the curtain call.

Produced by Northern Stage, Leeds Playhouse, Birmingham Rep and Soho Theatre in association with HOME Manchester, this current tour is the UK and European premiere. And with the current debates around not only Black Lives Matter but the role of the Commonwealth, 's arrival in Birmingham just ahead of the Commonwealth Games feels particularly timely.

Performed in the Studio at Birmingham Rep until June 18, see www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-white-card/ for full details and tickets.

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!date 08/06/2022 -- 18/06/2022
%wnbirmingham