Jitney

Synopsis

Set in Pittsburgh cab company in the late 70s, it tells the story of the men who drive the jitney cars and their struggle to find honour and accomplishment in a landscape of diminishing possibility.

Our Review:

17 October 2001

The plays of August Wilson - a fixture on the New York stage - haven't travelled frequently or too well to Britain. Now, however, the National Theatre (who previously introduced Wilson's work here when they staged a production of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom in 1989, five years after it had proved to be his first commercial success in New York) make partial amends by importing this outstanding production of Jitney to London in its recent hit off-Broadway revival.

Its director, Marion McClinton, tells John Lahr in a programme profile about Wilson, "It's August's language - the rhythm of hurt, the rhythm of pain, the rhythm of ecstasy, the rhythm of the family - which sets him apart and is why we call him the heavyweight champion." And it is precisely those insistent and complementary rhythms that are so meticulously and movingly caught by the championship heavyweight cast that McClinton fields in this production.

These actors, with the k...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com - 15 November 2001:

Excellent...

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