TheOrator.Press Theatre Review Special Extra Coverage ~ To Kill A Mockingbird ~ April 2022

The Geilgud Theatre, London’s West End

An Age-Old Racist Trope Spewed By The Devil Incarnate

To Kill A Mockingbird Is Bein’ Re-told. But The New Play Remains Gut-wrenchingly Raw.  Painfully Real.  And Tragically Still  As Relevant Today In 2022 As It Was When First Published In 1960. It Is Still Considered One of The Most Important Pieces of Literature In History, As It Highlights The Horrors of Racism, The Challenge of Retainin’ Integrity, And The Arbitrary Nature of Law Enforcement.

To See Arron Sorkin’s Contemporary Adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird At The Gielgud Theatre Is To See The Devil Incarnate, Alive And Sick! Still Committin’ His Misdeeds Embodied Within A No Good, Down & Dirty, Wholly Inferior Individual. The Incestous Klansman, Bob Ewell. And His Fellow Haters. And A Jury of His Peers. 

They Are No Friend of The Innocent Black Man, Mr Tom Robinson, A Lame Yet Dedicated Family Man, Who Knows He Was “Guilty From The Time He Was Accused” of A Crime He Did Not Commit.

This Play & The Original Book Confronts One of Racisms Most Egregious & Dangerous Tropes. A White Person Committin’ A Crime And Then Blamin’ It On A Black Person. The Black Person Bein’ Disbelieved. And Then The Black Person Bein’ Made To Pay An Inflated & Often Fatal Criminal Price. Perversley! Wrongly! Brutally.!

Innocent Mr Robinson Is Lame, Both Literally And Systemically. He’s Not Been Livin’ But Just Barely Survivin.’ In The American Deep South. It Was An Existence When The System Was Stacked Against Him – Even More Blatantly And Brutally Than It Is Now. And With A Lot Fewer Friends & Allies To Come To His Aid. But Conscientious Alabama Lawyer Atticus Finch Is Compelled To Try And Save The Day.

In Sorkin’s Contemporary Re-Worked & Fine-Tuned Stage Adaptation, Gone Is The Predominant Adoranational Faultless Focus On The Flawless White Saviour (Or Not), Who Is Given A Silent Standin’ Ovation, Gratitude & Servitude From The Black Section of A Segregated Courtroom. Arron’s Adaptation Allows For Greater Representation & Exploration of The Two Main Black Characters. An Innocent Black Man Wrongly Accused of A Crime. And A Dedicated House-Keeper In Fear For His Life. Fittin’ For A Post Obama/Post Floyd World, Sorkin Is A Smooth, Skillful, Contemporary Writer, Several Steps Removed From Harper Lee, Finch’s Super Brave, Adorin’, Now Grown-up Little Daughter From A Bygone Primative Era.

Even In The Preceedin’, Yet Ever Present, Racially Challengin’ Times of The 1960s, The Book Won A Pulitzer Prize For Fiction (In 1961). And After Havin’ The Courage To Take On The Movie Role (Which James Stewart Turned Down Wishin’ To Avoid Controversy) Gregory Peck Won His First Academy Award In 1962 Playin’ The Lead Role of Finch.   

Atticus & Calprinia “Like Brother & Sister”

With His Wholesale Kindness & Sense of Goodness Atticus Is Offensive To His House-Keeper, Calpurnia, Who Takes Umbrage At His Simplistic Small Town Good Nature (Rather Than Racial Hatred) Which Inherently Causes Him To Naively Believe His Hate-Diseased, Blood-Lust, Murderous Neighbours Are Good People Too. This Well-Meaning, Seemingly Nice, Yet Ultimately Obstructive Outlook, Is Unacceptable To Calpurnia. She Knows There Are Not Good People On Both Sides And Amongst The Klan Is Where The Devil Resides.

Disturbingly Yet Undeniably, Today, Finch’s Words Sound Somewhat Trumpian. Let’s Face It! Could It Be That Is Were His Speech Writers Sourced The Infamous Unstatesman-Like, Undiplomatic And Unconvincin’ “There Were Good People On Both Sides” Charlottesville Comment? Very Possible. Some Have Even Stooped So Low As To Try And Hijack & Corrupt The Words of The Real Life Black Civil Rights Leader Dr. Martin Luther King, So No Surprise If They Did The Same To The Fictional White Atticus Finch.

Either Way The Motivations of These Two White Men Are Polemically Different. One Is A World Class Leader, As American As Apple Pie, With Confrontin’ Views And Family Issues. The Other Is The Grandson of A German Immigrant, And Ironically A Nationalist In Another Country, Consumed By Grevience Politics, And Bein’ A One Term President.

Atticus Is Troubled By Calpurnia’s “Passive-Aggressive Disdain. Not Because He Dislikes Her But The Very Opposite, As Uniquely Narrated By Actress Gwyneth Keyworth, Who Plays Scout Finch, His Daughter. His Explanation To His Hardened House-Keeper As To The Meanin’ of The Term “Passive-Aggressive” Is A Wonderful Psychological Extra. Scout Movingly Describes This Tough, Black, Woman & House-Keeper And This “Meak,” White Man & Lawyer As Bein’ “Like Brother & Sister” Such Is Their Connection.

This Connection Means Calprinia Finally Succumbs And Explains To Him That His Patriarchal Expectation of Gushin’ Gratitude For Defendin’ An Innocent Black Man Is Similar To The Racist System Which Decrees Black People Are Expected To Be Docile, Simple And Lowly. He Gets It. And He Grows.

This Meek – “Not Weak” – Man Is To Grow Again When Racism Touches Him Once Again Even Closer To Home. In Jamaica There Is A Sayin “He Who Feels It Knows It.” Suffice To Say Certain Events Transpire With A Twist And He Eventually Feels It Even More Than Before! The Difference Between Calprinia’s Power To Take Control of Things In Pursuit of Justice, Compared To His Is Dramatically Highlighted.

The Best Way To Conquer Racism And Any Other Demon Is To Face It Head On And Address It For What It Is. This Play Does That. Alcoholism. Domestic Abuse. Rape. Incest. Lust. Lynching. Ignorance. Rancid Racism. Courtroom Drama. Injustice. Natural Justice. Love And  Hate. Kindness And Compassion. All These Ingredients Are Baked Into This Masterful Study of Human Nature, Its Consequences And Its Surprises.

One of Literatures Most  Endurin’ Dramas It Remains A Source of Inspiration And Quotation For Presidents, Poets, Scholars & Others. And Now Sorkin Has Adapted It For A Modern Day Millenial Audience, It Is One of The Most Timely & Relevant Plays On The Stage Today.

Talent ‘Scout’ & Co. Steal The Show

Although Based On A Fictional Town, It Is Based On A True Story As Witnessed By Scout & Her Brother Jem, Who Was 14 At The Time, And She Was Just 10. They Also Experienced This Rude Awakenin’ To Racism With A Visitin’ Neighbourhood Friend, Dill Harris. His Character Is Played By David Moorst Who Was Bright, Breezy And Full of Energy When We Met Him At The Stage Door And He Confirmed What We Thought About His On Stage Character. There Were Certain Nuances That A Gaydar Could Read As Dill Bein’ Gay. Even If The Owner of The Gaydar Was Straight.

This Is Poignant As The Potential For Persecution From The Inferior & Evil Ewell And His Lynch Mob Has The Potential To Go A Number of Wicked Ways. For The Ironically Inferior White Supremicist Makes Clear He Doesn’t Just Love To Lynch Black People, But He’s An Anti-semite Too. And In All Probability He Would Love To Hate A Homosexual. If Only He Knew. Racists, Zealots, And Bigots Have No Regard For Someone Else’s Childhood. Their Depravity Knows No Bounds. Their Targets May Be Old, Young, Able or Disabled, Small, Medium or Large.

Comparable To Morgan Freeman’s Narration Bein’ The Star of The Shawshank Redemption, The Narration By These Three Youngsters, And The Very Fact That They Want To Tell Their Story of Tom Robinson’s Story & Calpurnia’s Too And Have It Heard, Is The Star of Sorkin’s Modern Day Adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird. The Alchemy of Innocent Story-Tellin’ About Corrupt & Cruel Adult Actions Is Heart-Poundingly Grippin’. No Moment More So Than When Scout Recalls That She Said Hello To The Father of One of Her School Friends Whose Voice She Recognises Even Though He’s Dressed In The White Sheet of A Klansman About To Perpetrate A Lynchin’. The Charm & Power of Her Innocence Even Stops Him Up. For Now!

But There’s No Stoppin’ Harry Redding Who Gives A Supremely Confident Debut Stage Performance As Jem Finch. His Love of The Great Outdoors Has Served Him Well As Has His Trainin’ At The London Academy of Music & Dance Art (LAMADA). A Fact We Urge You To Discover For Yourself. He Is The Glue That Holds The Intrepid Trio Together. Undoubtedly He Has A Great Future, Ironically Because He Portrayed So Well Jem’s Bein’ In Such Grave Danger.

Calpurnia’s Godfather-Esque Silent Cry Moved Us To Tears As We Felt Her Pain Deep Inside

This Production Is An Entire Ensemble Effort From All The Various Actors Playin’ Various Important Roles With Various Opportunities To Shine. They Have All Taken Their Roles And Ran With Them For Their Actin’ Lives. Sometimes Literally Runnin’ And Jumpin’ On Stage. Even When Movin’ Set Pieces On Stage From One Scene To Another, Usually The Courthouse, Finch’s Front Porch, or The County Jail, All The Cast Are Givin’ Their All.

Palpably This Particular Theatre Production Is Operatin’ On A Deeper Level of Dedication Than Your Average Theatre Production And It Shows As This Play Is Given The Respect & Reverance That It Deserves, In Terms of Depth, Delivery & Deference. The Standin’ Ovation From The Stalls, To The Dress Circle, And Up To Grand Circle Said It All. And We Made A Point of Checkin’ (Whilst Still Weepin’ & Quietly Recoverin’).

Rafe Spall, Son of Acting Veteran Timothy Spall, Is Very Much His Own Man And Yet Havin’ Seen Both of Them Interviewed A Number of Times, The Closeness Between Them, With or Without The Other In Attendance, Is Always Heartwarmingly Self-Evident. But Spall Jnr Is Keen To Show They Are Two Very Different Gentleman & He Has Estabished His Own Independence. Something We Observed Again When We Attended The Stage Door After The Performance On Openin’ Night (At Which He Appeared In Some World Class Gentleman’s Slippers). The Man’s Got Style!

As Atticus, He Is Bold & Adept And His Sustained Southern Accent Deserves Special Recognition Given That He’s An Englishman Playin’ One of The World’s Most Famous Americans. His Role In Jurassic Park Franchise In Which He Also Maintained An American Accent, No Doubt Gave Him The Requisite Confidence To Take On This Mammoth Thespian Diction Task. Steppin’ Into Gregory Peck’s Shoes As The Good Guy Is A Virtually Impossible Ask. But He’s Worked Hard. And It Shows.

Extra Special Recognition Is Also Due Because At Just 39 Rafe Spall Is The Thespian Baby Finch of This Brave New Bartlett Bunch. Daniels Was Over 60 When Playin’ Atticus On Broadway (A Role He Said He Waited For All His Life). And Thomas, Who Is Takin’ It On Tour, Is Over 70 (Notwithstandin’ He Still Looks Impossibly Young & Is Still Recognisable As Young John Boy Walton – Which He Will Forever Be Despite His Thespian Pedigree). Gregory Peck Was Just 45. Although He Carried Himself With A Authority Greater Than His Years Because 45 In The 1960s Was Not As Young & Youthful As It Is These Days (With Greater Medical & Health Awareness Helpin’ Society Improve The Way We Age & Perceive Age).

Bartlett Sher In An Interview (tokillamockingbird.co.uk) Reveals That He Observed That Jeff Daniels Just Grew & Grew And Got Better & Better In The Role, Even After 500 Shows. We Are Already Contemplatin’ Seein’ The Play Again, And Will No Doubt See Rafe Spall Continuin’ To Grow Into The Role In A Similar Way As He Knows How To Own His Place On Stage.

As The Bad Guy Patrick O’kane Who Plays The Despicable, Devil-Incarnate, Ignorant & Evil Bob Ewell Is Outstandin’. On Stage He Has The Physical Likeness of Woody Harrelson And At One Point We Had To Look Good & Hard On A Prolonged Double Take To Double Check It Wasn’t Actually Him And Whether We’d Missed Something. It Wasn’t. And We Hadn’t. Whilst The Resemblance Is Real It Is Infact Simply Patrick O’kane Actin’ His Heart Out At The Top of His Game.

He’s So Good At Bein’ Bad It Was Frustratin’ At The Curtain Call Because For A Moment We Actually Wondered Whether To Clap or Boo. Havin’ Reminded Ourselves In The Nick of Time That He Is Simply An Actor Doin’ His Job Horribly Well We Continued With The Rapturous Standin’ Ovation Which This Whole Production & His Performance Truly Deserves.

Calpurnia’s Godfather-Esque Silent Cry In The Midst of Cruelity And The Chain of Causation And The Consequences of Racism Whirlin’ Around And Wreaking Havoc, Moved Us To Tears As We Felt Her Pain. Deep Inside. Once She Moved Us In This Way, We Really Did Not Recover Ourselves Again Until The End of The Play. Actress Pamela Nomvete’s Actin’ Credits Include Include The Groundbreakin’ BBC Drama Noughts & Crosses (Written By Valarie Blackman & Available On BBC iplayer). We Hope Very Much To See Her Again. Soon! Until Then She Is Forever Imprinted In Our Hearts & Minds Sorkin’s Theatre Adaptation of Our Times.

For A Comparable But Notably Different Race-Hate Lawyer Client Deep South Courtroom Drama See The Jaw Droppin’ Cinematic Hollywood Masterpiece A Time To Kill With Samuel L Jackson (Oscar Winner 2022 In Case Anyone Missed It For Whatever Reason) And (Fellow Oscar Winner) Matthew McConnahey. Brace Yourself For A Piece of Brutal Reality & Ingenious Legal Strategy. More of Which We Need To See!

A Compellin’ Small But Powerful Act of Physical Actin’

Jude Owusu, Actin’ As The Wrongly Accused Innocent Tom Robinson, In Placin’ His Lame Hand On The Bible Executes A Small But Powerful Moment of Physical Actin’ That Is So Compellin’ & Convincin,’ It Commands Even Greater Compassion For His Character. His Plight Totally Consumes The Audience. The Depth of Racism In The Prosecution Lawyer’s Suggestion That Usin’ His Lame Arm Meant His Oath Was Worth Nothin’ – And – In The Fact That Him Feelin’ Sorry For His Accuser, Bob Ewell’s Dim And Tragically Victimised Daughter, Mayaella Ewell, Was An Outrage Because As A Black Person He Has No Right To Feel Sorry For Anyone (As Nothing Could Be Worse Than Bein’ A Black Person) Is Horrifyin’ Inhumane’ And Depraved.

This Compared To Robinson’s Dignified Acceptance of Who He Is, His Upbringin’ And His Values Is Such A Righteous Contrast So Powerful That It’s Visceral. That’s The Thing That Sticks. Smack Bang In One’s Heart & Soul. It’s Literally Blowin’ Your Mind & Stirrin’ Your Emotions As You Try Not To Cry. Again! How Can A Man Be So Rightly Powerful Yet So Wrongly Powerless At The Same Time. It Is Wrong. That Is The Crime Against God!

But The Soul Does Cry Out As He Reveals That Despite His Dignity He Has Internalized The Rancid Racism & Bigotory Which Plagues Members of The Black Community.Then And Still Today. Asked Why He Ran, He Explains To His Defence Lawyer, The Fearless Finch “Because I Was Scared. You’d Be Scared Too If You Were A N- %%^r.”

The N’ Word Is Prolific In This Play. The Corruption of It As A Word Is A Tragedy In Itself. Originally In Africa It Meant Majestically Great. Many of The N Words In Africa Are Power Words of Beauty. Includin’ The River Niger. And The Androgynous Name “Nana” Meanin’ King or Queen For Instance.

But Revisionist ‘White-Washin’ of The Corrupted N Word Out of The Play Today Would Be To Water Down The Prevalence of The Insult In These Deeply Dire & Depressin’ Racist Days (Written In 1960s And Based In The 1930s). That Would Be To Belie The Day To Day Verbal Brutality & Disrespect By The Brutal Beasts of Racist Lingusistic Violence. Atticus Hates It. It Riles Him. Especially The Prosecution Lawyer’s Insistence On Callin’ Mr Robinson “Boy” Instead of Treatin’ Him Like The Dignified Human, Man And That He Is.

Havin’ Met Jude And His Agent After The Show It Is Amazin’ To See He Is A Young, Handsome, Affable, Vibrant, Stylish Gentleman So We Have To Give ‘Props’ To The Make-up & Wardrobe Department Who Help Highlight This Young Man’s Incredible Actin’ Talent. What This Space As We Are Thrilled To Say He Very Kindly Granted Us An Interview Which Should Be Comin’ Soon.

Atticus Finch Reveals His True Colours As The American Justice & Injustice System Swings Into Operation At His Convenience

And Then There’s A Twist! It Highlights Another Moral of The Story Embedded In This Complex And Cruel Tale of Gross Injustice. “Never Judge A Book By Its Cover.” The Duality of The American Justice & Injustice System (Still In Operation Today) Is Highlighted By The Fact That A Shy, Simple, Quiet Killer Is Exposed. He Is A White Man Who Becomes A Killer Through No Fault of His Own, As The Horrors of Racism Continue To Explode. Let’s Just Say A Ham (Italian Proscuitto) And A Knife Are Involved In The Most Unexpected of Ways.

Ultimately One Man Is Actually Guilty of A Crime. And One Man Isn’t. Yet The Outcomes For Each Man Are Arbitarily, Catostrophically, And Wickedly Different.

Through Lawyerin’ Widowed Atticus Reflects His Belief That The Accused Should Be Treated Equally. A Belief Shared By His Young Children & Their Friend, Who Play Their Part Through Happily Playin,’ Eagerly Listenin’, Sometimes Eavesdroppin’, And Instinctively Collaboratin’. All With The Great Gusto of Youth! And Then There’s The Sherriff Who Proves That Bad Law Enforcement Casually Does What It Likes, When It Likes, How It Likes – To Who It Likes – or Doesn’t! Dependin’ Upon Whether The Person Accused Is Black or White. Thus Each of These Parties Are Comin’ At The Same Set of Facts From Very Different Perspectives. In A Way That Stays With You. For Life! It’s An Education. As Ever, How Well One Does At School, Depends On The Individual.

That Was Clearly Harper Lee’s Intention And Considerin’ It Was Written And Subsequently Filmed In The Early 1960s And Was Undoubtedly Conceived In The 1950s (or Even Possibly Before) She Was A Revolutionary. She Wanted To Make A Difference To Racist Society And She Chose To Do So Through Writin’. Her Father Lost Some Friends & Associates Defendin’ Mr Robinson (An Understatement) So She Knew Exactly What She Was Doin’. Little Wonder Then In Some States The Book Was Banned. But The Ban, Like The Racism That Drove It, Was Ultimately A Failure! The Book Remains A World Renowned Triumph.

And Yet Racism Continued. And Continues. In Fact Arguably Great Progression Has Suffered Shockin’ Regression Most Recently Post Trump. Standin’ Alone To Kill A Mockingbird Is Not Enough. More Literary Work of This Ilk Needs To Be Done. Voicin’ Black Perspectives And Those of Their Allies, Is Essential. Because Ultimately We All Want To Live In Peace. Recurring Riots Due To Savage & Unacceptable Police Impropriety Are Destructive To Such Peace. Hence “No Justice, No Peace.” And That Won’t Be Achieved If We Only Listen To White Voices. Particularly White Racist Voices Who Have Powerful Friends Who Make White Racist Systemic & Judicial Choices In Their Own Interest, For Others With Less Powerful or No Voices.

Art Has Always Be An Agent For Change. To Value A Culture In A Society Is To Acknowledge It, Accept It, Respect It And Allow It’s History To Be Respectfully Taught And Valued. Particularly Within Schools And Learnin’ Establishments. Other Plays We Have Reviewed Which We Have Suggested Should Be Taught In Schools Include And Breathe, Hymn, Rockets & Blue Lights, And Streets Paved With Gold. There Is A Reason Slave-Owners Outlawed Educatin’ The Enslaved. Now It’s Time To Learn In Schools About This Wonderful Array of Entertainin,’ Educational & Cultural Plays, As They Can Be Powerful Educational Tools For Positive Change.

As Free As A Bird…?

Integral To The Finch Family Tale Is The Shared Belief That A Mockingbird Is A Special Creature (It Has The Ability To Mimic Other Birds, Insects And Amphibians And Sing Into The Night). And Thus, To Kill A Mockingbird Would Be Wrong. And Indeed “A Crime Against God.”   And Yet It Runs Parallel To The Belief In Some Quarters That How A Human Being Is Treated Followin’ An Alleged Crime Depends Upon Whether That Individual Is Black or White. The Subtext – In The Deep South of America – A Black Man May Be Treated With Lesser Regard Than An Animal.

But This Mindset Is Not Just In The Deep South. During The Worldwide Lockdown of 2020 A Repeat Offender, Racist, Murderous Police Officer & Three of His Fellow Racist Murderous Police Officers In Minnesotta, In The Midwest of America, Proved It. They Murdered A 46 Year Old Black Man, In The Street, Like A Dog, By Kneeling On His Neck And Choosin’ Inaction To Stop It.

The Man Was Accused of Tryin To Pay For Goods With A Counterfiet $20 Bill. The Irony Is The Actual Proven Crime of These So Called Police Officers Was Much Much Much Worse Than Possession of A Counterfiet Note. And Yet They Were The Ones Dressed Up In Police Clothes. Lynchin’ Whilst Forcin Down To The Ground. But Now Those Fancy Dress Thugs Who Liked To Play Dress Up Are Legally Languishin’ In Jail.

But The Justice System Only Works Every Once In A While. The Injustice System That Met Mr Robinson Is Sadly, Satistically More Successful.

The Murdered Man, Mr George “Perry” Floyd Now Rests In Power, Elevated To Martyr Status As A Result of International Outrage (The Whole World Was Literally Watchin’ – Due To Lockdown). And The High Profile Lawyer In This Case Is Not A Semi-Autobiographical, Defence Lawyer, And Ultimately Ineffective, White Saviour (Or Not!). But He Is A Modern-Day, Real Life, Black, Civil Rights Crusader, Prosecution Lawyer & Social Campaigner, Called Benjamin Crump, Lawyer To Floyd Family. And Others!

Wonderfully Woke & No Longer Socially Sleep Walkin’

The Inhumanity Caught On Camera Durin’ The Floyd Race-Hate, Police Brutality, Murder Case So Disgusted The World That It Set In Motion Social Justice Reforms On A Level, Corporate & Community, The Likes of Which Have Never Been Seen Before.

Many Companies And Organisations Now Have Diversity, Equality, And Inclusion Consultants For Instance, Includin The Broadway & West End Productions of To Kill A Mockingbird. The Broadway Production Is Incidentally On Tour Starrin’ John Boy Walton Actor Richard Thomas In The Led Lawyer Role. The Expression “Like Hot Cakes” Comes To Mind. If We Were Sufficiently Rich To Go To See It By Buyin’ A Plane Ticket And Hotel Ticket As Well As The Theatre Ticket And Then Pop Back We Would. Even If It Were Our Only Carbon Footprint Indulgence of The Decade. Maybe They’ll Stream It Internationally One Day. Please!

So Enduringly Powerful Is Harper Lee’s Epic Story That The American Library of Congress Decided To Preserve The Original Film In The National Film Registry As Culturally, Historically And Aesthetically Significant In 1995, Over Sixty Years After It Was First Written. In 2006 British Librarians Declared The Book One Which Everyone Should Read Before They Die. And On July 14 2015 An Initial Draft of To Kill A Mockingbird Called “Go Set A Watchman” Was Published Which Set The Publishin’ World On Fire. Again! Despite All This Lee Was Very Particular About Her Privacy & Quiet Amazingly Regardless of The Immediate Success of The Book She Avoided Publicity After Four Years of It Havin’ Had Enough And From 1964 She Deliberately Kept Herself To Herself After This Writin’ One Hit Wonder.

Aaron Sorkin, Won An Oscar On His Film Writin’ Debut With Molly’s Game In 2017, Starrin’ Rachel McAdams & Idris Elba. He Had However Already Written For TV With The Political, American, Emmy Award-Winning TV Series The West Wing, Which Aired From 1999-2006. And He Also Wrote The Play A Few Good Men Which Appeared In Theatres In 1989. Adapted Into The 1992 Film, It Saw Jack Nicholson Deliver With Venom The Classic Line “You Can’t Handle The Truth”. Sorkin Knows Storytellin’!

Just As We Have Conscientious Actors Exemplified By The Likes of The Late Great Cicely Tyson And Sidney Poitier, And Now Silver Foxes Denzel Washington & Richard Gere, We Also Have Conscientious Writers Like Earl Hamner Jr, Steve McQueen, Marjorie Blackman, And Arron Sorkin.

Today They Are At Risk of Bein’ Derided As Woke (Derigation & Devaluation Remains One of The Biggest Tools of Racism). Woke Essentially Means Awake To Social Injustice And Sufficiently Moved To Try & Do Something About It In The Name of Social Progress. Their Ilk Have Sought & Continue To Seek To Avoid Social Sleep-Walking Into Greater Social Injustice & Unrest, Because Ultimately People Want Peace.

Rather Than Be Dettered One Might Take Courage From The Lady Herself, Miss Harper Lee, And Remember – That It Was Once Said – It Is “A Crime Against God” To Kill A Mockingbird!

The Geilgud Theatre, London’s West End