Kunene and the King, Shakespeare Theatre Company

 It's a little difficult to separate John Kani and all the talents and accomplishments in a storied career from the work he is currently embodying on the Shakespeare Theatre Center stage. Kani is both playwright and actor in Kunene and the King, his play about an ailing actor (Edward Gero) and his caregiver (Kani) that is deeply enmeshed in the history and racial politics of South Africa. It's a play that is informed by Kani's own history, drawing as much from his life on the stage as from his experiences in his home country before and after the end of apartheid. The story is deeply felt and sensitively played by the two actors, and uplifted by the work of the accomplished singer Ntebo that frames the scenes as Isithunywa.

It also doesn't quite work as a play.

There is a fundamental problem at work in the play, centering around the racist intractability and stubborn pride of Gero's Jack Morris coming up against the immovable wall of Kani's Lunga Kunene, the nurse charged to be Morris's caregiver who persists in this role against unreasonable obstacles and cruelty thrown in his way. Again and again, Morris insults the humanity of Kunene and Kunene remains faithful to his duty of care; Morris learns nothing, and Kani persists in already-attained wisdom he endeavors to impart to the deaf ears of Morris and the hopefully more receptive ones in the audience. 

Edward Gero and John Kani in Kunene and the King at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.

It's a shame, but it also doesn't negate what does work well onstage. The discussions centering about Shakespeare, King Lear, and the ways in which these 400 year old plays reflect, impact, and differ from life offstage are engaging, beautifully performed, and illustrate interesting differences with the onstage characters. Lear's fool may have spoken necessary truth to the King, but he also disappears before the end of the play without mention; Lear himself is redeemed through suffering because he also grows through it with the time he is given, unlike Jack Morris. The design work is excellent, with Lawrence E. Moten III's sets and Karen Perry's costumes feeling convincingly lived in for the men and strikingly beautiful traditional garb for Isithunywa's appearances. 

Even with the reservations here, I do think Kunene and the King is worth spending time with. Kani is rightfully and deservedly a legend in his time, and Gero works very well opposite him. At a time when discussions of race, justice, and equity are equal parts fraught and necessary in America, it's helpful to take a look at how these issues have played out in people's lives in other contexts than our own, and to see the ways in which our own struggles are reflected and enriched with greater understanding of each other.