Brooklyn actors give remarkable performances in ‘X: Or, Betty Shabazz vs. The Nation’
When the audience enters the curtainless theatre on the second floor of St. Clement’s Episcopal Church for a performance by the Acting Company of the playwright Marcus Gardley’s “X: Or, Betty Shabazz vs. The Nation,” (running through Feb. 18) they are greeted by a black, unadorned stage, with two looming flags in the background: those of the United States and the Nation of Islam. Before the house lights have even dimmed, an African- American shoe-shine man (Brooklyn resident William Sturdivant) shuffles across the stage, riffing in cadence on what we’re about to witness. It seems a very Shakespearean touch, which is apropos because the production mirrors the Bard’s “Julius Caesar.” At one point in the first act Malcolm, played another Brooklyn actor, Jimonn Cole, even says to his deceitful brother, “You, too, Wilbur?” an echo of, “Et tu, Brutus?”
There are other Shakespearean touches as well: when Louis X (yes, another Brooklyn actor J.D. Mollison) summons a male “audience member” to the stage to “play” Malcolm, it turns out to be Cole himself. All of this rich theatrical context makes for a powerful, provocative evening of theater. And, as with any production of Shakespeare, the play is only as good as the ensemble of players performing it. The director, Ian Belknap (who is also Artistic Director of the Acting Company), has been blessed with an extraordinary group. Gardley, whose previous credits include “Desire Quenched by Touch” (also for the Acting Company), “On the Levee” (for Lincoln Center Theatre) and “Dance of the Holy Ghosts” (for Center Stage and Yale Rep) has fashioned a bold mix of time-shifting narrative, period-style music and elements of Brecht’s epic theatre to relitigate the circumstances surrounding Malcolm’s assassination on Feb. 21, 1965 while he was addressing his Organization of African-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights. Roslyn Ruff, who plays Malcolm’s widow Betty Shabazz, gives a passionate, nuanced performance. (Ruff is another Brooklynite in the cast.) And Joshua David Robinson (yet another Brooklyn-based actor) is masterful and compelling as Brother Eugene X, who is manipulated by both the FBI and the Nation of Islam into betraying Malcolm. (Malcolm X’s actual assassin was Thomas Hagan, who later expressed “deep regrets” about his participation in the assassination.)
Recently, by email, I asked both Robinson and Ruff about their preparations for their respective roles. Below are edited excerpts of our conversations, first with Mr. Robinson.
Brooklyn Boro
View MoreNew York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born here, raised families here and improved communities over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’.