The Mountaintop is writer Katori Hall’s imagining of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s last night alive before his assassination. It is an ambitious undertaking, placing the audience in Dr King’s motel room during his final hours as he wrestles with his life and legacy. There, he is joined by a beautiful motel maid, Camae, who is clearly not all that she seems.
It is a bold concept, which works well at times, but is too inconsistent to be wholly successful. It is strongest at the beginning, with a weary, ill Dr King working alone at yet another speech, craving a cup of coffee. As the play progresses, it becomes more frantic and less intriguingly ambiguous, metaphors giving way to over-literal action. It stops showing and starts telling, seemingly not trusting its audience to follow along.
The production is full of visions of the faith that drove and sustained Dr King. He is illuminated by shafts of light like something out of a medieval painting. He stands with his arms stretched out either side of him as if crucified; organ music is never far away. By contrast, his feet smell and his socks are full of holes. The message that he is a man no matter how saintly he appears is clear, but sometimes feels laboured to the point of over-saturation.
The stage is scattered with church chairs and an organ half-sunk into dirt, an effective illustration of how Dr King’s religious life as a preacher is in constant tension with his earthly sins. He is placed in a purgatorial vision of the Lorraine Motel room where he spent his final night. The floor of the room is raised up and tilts as he literally climbs his way towards the summit of the mountain of civil rights.
Premonitions of his impending death are likewise liberally spread about, from the script to the gravedigger’s spade literally front and centre. The story is so well-known that as with much else in the play, a little more ambiguity might make for a more powerful experience.
Caleb Roberts as Dr King is at his best when he is at his most vulnerable, wrestling with his very human weaknesses and his fear. Unfortunately, he never quite gets on top of the character and his oration and speechifying are less successful – Dr King’s voice and mannerisms are so well-known that Roberts’ efforts to reproduce them occasionally come off as somewhat mannered.
Opposite him, Shannon Hayes makes for a tremendous Camae, the motel maid with something to hide. She is a force of nature, flirting with Dr King, cracking jokes and smoking copious cigarettes. When Hayes delivers a thundering sermon the audience is utterly gripped. The revelations about Camae’s true nature do nothing to dilute Hayes’ charisma, and she carries this new aspect of her character with aplomb.
The Mountaintop is a spectacular concept, but as a production it is one that doesn’t quite work. The thought of what might have gone through Dr King’s mind during his final night is one that is full of potential, and it feels like there are almost too many ideas present, swamping the essential narrative.
However, there is a vital message at the play’s heart which is well worth hearing – even more vital today than when it was first written in the wake of Barack Obama’s historic election as US president. If there is something that unites us all, it is our very human fear, and that is something which Katori Hall’s vision of Dr King understands all too well.
Performed at The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh
Runs until Saturday 21 June, Tuesday-Saturday 19:30, Wednesdays and Saturdays 14:30
Running time: 1 hours 45 minutes, no interval
Written by Katori Hall
Directed by Rikki Henry
Designer: Hyemi Shin
Composer: Pippa Murphy
Lighting Designer: Benny Goodman
Cast: Shannon Hayes, Caleb Roberts