Review: The Mountaintop – Lyceum, Edinburgh

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Premiered in 2009, Katori Hall’s ‘The Mountaintop’ rests upon single question, ‘What if Martin Luther King Jr found out he would die on the 4th of April, 1968 – the night before. Hall finds her answer in a fictional encounter between King Jr and a remarkable Memphis hotel maid. It’s a conversation that starts with flirtation and ends with revelation.

The first 30 minutes are utterly scintillating, with Hall’s punchy, sparkling dialogue offering the outstanding pairing of Caleb Roberts and Shannon Hayes sufficient fuel to ignite two incandescent characters. Roberts’ King Jr is a physical manifestation, a man with a burning sense of righteous indignation, equipped with a singular voice, but whose mind and body teeter on the edge. As Camae, the maid, Hayes is far, far more than a sassy, flirtatious foil to King’s amorous intentions, though she can certainly give as good as she gets on that front.

Exploring mortality, legacy, and the burden of leadership

However, instead of romance, Hall makes Camae a provocatrice of a deeper, more urgent exploration of King’s motivations, doubts, hopes, and fears. Yes, much is woven from King Jr’s final ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ speech, but Hall dives deeper, and hunts for the wounds – and the flaws – beneath the idealism. Vietnam, and the rights of Memphis sanitation workers (for whom King is in town to march for), loom large, but no more than his worries that no one is listening. Goaded by Camae to consider Malcolm X’s more martial approach to righting wrongs, he repudiates it utterly, ‘Live by violence, die by violence,’ he points out. ‘Live by love, die by hate’ replies Camae.

A remarkable breadth of chat, you might think, for a bloodied but unbowed King Jr to have with a 20-something maid, but Camae is a fantastic creation who answers his epic quest for justice with personal testimony. Abundantly cheeky, yet full of admiration, burning with rage, and full of love, she wears her heart and wounds on her uniformed sleeves. It’s a testament to quality of writing, performance and Rikki Henry’s direction that their interactions are continually surprising, but not contrived.

A bold shift from realism into metaphysical theatre

However, Hyemi Shin’s magnificently austere set promises something more than a meeting of minds, and the play soon shifts gear to match it. Set upon a single stone-like slab, pitched at an angle, the hotel room rests upon a wasteland arrayed with meeting hall chairs and a decrepit organ, all mouldering amidst bare earth. Looming above, a pale square hovers, more a lowering sky than a hotel room ceiling. Kudos are also due to Benny Goodman, whose lighting effects, from flickering TV to something more otherwordly later, are true works of art.

It’s no surprise then, when the play turns from matters of life and injustice, to life and death, as Hall reveals the mechanism of King Jr’s unlikely elucidation. It’s a bold stroke of the imagination to say the least, and a challenge to director Henry, who must negotiate a switch from charged melodrama to a darkly fantastical night of the soul. To his credit, the transition is both smooth and impactful – at least at first.

A powerful message stretched a touch too far

Roberts and Hayes’ fabulous performances continue, somehow keeping their characters true whilst the world shifts beneath their feet. Yet, for all their charisma and talent, and Hall’s undeniable talent for rich characterisation, the play pulls the trigger on this momentous switch too soon. The result is a finale which occupies two-thirds of the play. Despite the best efforts of all involved, and an atmospheric effort from composer Pippa Murphy, there’s simply not enough tension to sustain it.

Yes, the visuals of King Jr straining at ropes which threaten to upend the stage are striking. Part prisoner, part titan striving to pull the world to a better place, such epic fayre moves the play into a Biblical space which all but demands declamation.

Accordingly, Hall supercharges King Jr’s grieving process to powerful effect, beginning with denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and ending with a raging plea for someone to take up the baton. Roberts’, in full flow, demands both eyes and ears, but one can have too many cris du cœur, and ‘The Mountaintop’ indulges a little too much; our heroes’ debates circle back on themselves and threaten immobility.

Perhaps sensing this, the actors, playwright and director do their best to keep the play personal, and not theoretical, and a little of the playful, sometimes morbid humour lacing earlier proceedings survives until late in the game. It only truly fades in the play’s audacious closing scenes, which are – fortunately – more than worth waiting for.

Yet, there’s no escaping a sense of what might have been, if Hall had only kept King Jr and Camae talking as strangers meeting in the night — at least for a little longer.

Featured Image: Lyceum Theatre – The Mountaintop _Caleb Roberts as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Shannon Hayes as Camae- image by Mihaela Bodlovic

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To book tickets for The Mountaintop at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, click here. For more information on the show, click here.

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