Straight White Men

In some of the press for Young Jean Lee's Straight White Men, the play is referred to as "satirical". It is definitely not. The four men in this play are bitingly, painfully real and familiar. They are all 'good guys', who've gone about either taking advantage of or trying to distance themselves from their privilege in different ways, with varying levels of capital and emotional 'success'. Slowly and immaculately, often hilariously, this play unfolds to ask the question 'what can the straight white man do, if anything, to make the world a better place for everyone else?'.

Unsurprisingly, no real answer comes. However, the arguments for how straight white men should operate in the world, made literal between one family of men over Christmas, are incredibly thought-provoking. No, thought-provoking seems like too weak a term: the way this play makes everyone in the audience confront their own privilege is like a detonation, a world-rattling shake-up.

This just would not work if the actors couldn't sell these characters, but luckily every one of the performers is sympathetic and, in some way, likable. Especially Hugh Parker who plays Matt; the brother most racked with guilt over his place in the world. After the bleak and moving final scene, he is obviously still affected by the same emotions that linger on in the heart of the audience at curtain call. Everything from the set to the costumes to the dumb-joke games the brothers play with each other is familiar and normal, and in this setting the most abnormal thing occurs - truly ground-breaking theatre.