Review: This Kind of Black at HOME ‘Reece Williams shatters myths with heartfelt storytelling’

Every time we turn on the news, we see stereotypes. It then becomes easy for people to take sides, as they scroll their phones and glance up at the bigger screen every now and then.

And if you engage online and provide a counterargument, you either have lots of people being sweary and disagreeing, or if you are lucky – you can catch a wave of positivity and then you can ride it like Keanu Reeves in Point Break. But this is very rare.

This Kind of Black at HOME

Reece Williams wrote This Kind of Black as his debut poetry collection in 2019, and he wanted this piece to live on the page and the stage. In his words, it is his way “of attempting to unpack the black.”

This one-man show is only 60 minutes in length but it manages to bust many a myth about Moss Side, explore what poverty feels like when you are living with it on a daily basis, and delve into how collective trauma affects communities, and this is deeply personal for the writer and performer and therefore. heartfelt.

Reece Williams

The minute this piece begins, Reece entices the audience – as he wants you to feel and experience, taste and touch what is taking place and he does this through his skills as a wordsmith. His poetry permeates the air that you breathe in this highly charged hour of intimate and involving theatre.

Reece navigates how we got here and why. So instead of seeking quick solutions to a problem, he puts a microscope on the problems and why they exist, as well as celebrating the fact that it is not all bad. I loved hearing about ‘uncles’ and ‘aunts’ who are neighbours and/or family friends, as this reminded me of my own childhood, living in an area, where people looked out for each other. Your children were their children.

Courtney Hayles

Courtney Hayles’ movement lifts you and it is a great symbol of hope, within a piece like this. The minute the music begins, Reece becomes possessed by a desire for change, moving his shoulders slowly but surely, evolving into full-blown moves, but dancing like everyone is watching – because they are.

On one level, you might think you have seen this before because This Kind of Black highlights hardship, and tragedy and the effects that these have on communities and in particular, young black men.

But it is imbued with more hope than you see on social media platforms and within rolling headlines, designed to sink you into a pit of despair, or providing you with a villain or group of villains to blame. Here there is no finger pointing, instead you see the human beings behind the stories, and more importantly the humour which prevails.

Julie Parker’s lighting really brings out of the fact that beneath the black male stereotypes, was once a boy. And it really highlights the balance between those two. Sumit Sarkar’s video design and animation shows us that we have more in common than we believe, through it’s connecting lines.

Director Matt Fenton does a fine job with pace, as you do have time to breathe and take it all in. It does not feel too rushed. I would have liked the barber skit to be a bit longer, as these places offer men a place in which to talk, without fear or judgement.

Reece Williams is an incredibly engaging performer, as he draws upon what he knows and what he has seen. But he steps amongst you and breaks that fourth wall, he gives you questions and he is keen for you to engage. He is witty and wily wordsmith, and he exudes warmth and This Kind of Black presents you with his never-ending desire for solutions and increased understanding.

Tickets for This Kind of Black at HOME

This Kind of Black is at HOME until 22nd February and can be booked here. It then tours to Lancaster, Liverpool, London, Oxford and Stockton.