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Stephen Lawrence, a young black man, was killed on Thursday
22nd April 1993 by a group of white youths for no apparent reason. "The
Colour of Justice" is a play about his death and the investigation
that followed. It is made up entirely of extracts from the Macpherson
inquiry and tells us as much about the shocking way in which the police
pursued the case as it does about the horrific nature of the crime itself.
Each scene takes a particular witness and shows us their involvement in
the proceedings. We hear from Stephen's friend Duwayne (played by the
excellent Stephenjohn Holgate), family members, many of the policeman
involved and even the suspects. The actors are believable in their roles,
and those that play more than one role make efforts to distinguish each
of them in some way. The dialogue consists almost entirely of question
and answer sessions. To counteract this repetition some thought has gone
into the staging to make each segment distinct from one another.
The most enlightening passages are those involving the policemen and women
directly involved. Taken singly most of them seem to be honest in their
claims to not be racist, to have acted in good faith and honestly apologise
for what are obvious, though often minor, errors on their part. Some of
them are even portrayed as sympathetic characters. Taken as a whole however,
they paint a very different picture.
We are shown through a catalogue of errors at seemingly every level, from
a simple failure to take notes or to treat evidence with the appropriate
importance to an almost casual attitude to the whole situation. The range
of the evidence begins to create the impression that a greater force is
at work, and this is exactly the idea that is meant to be taken from this
work. Richard Norton-Taylor is not pointing us in the direction of governmental
cover ups or X-Files conspiracies but rather to the subtle effects of
racial stereotyping and unconscious racism that exist within our society.
These elements affect us all, in our personal lives as well as within
the institutions that our society is based upon - and the only way that
these things can change is if we are willing to do our part.
The play is followed by "Shades of Grey", a discussion on race
and institution with various speakers, some of whom were involved in the
Lawrence case and others who have been involved in race relations of one
sort or another. The panel talked openly about how things have changed
over the last 10 years and what they would like to see happen in the future.
They allowed a short time at the end for questions from the floor.
Keith Ibsen, 25.02.03
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