The one-set taxi office was placed within a huge panoramic photo of 1970s Pittsburgh, and when the cakewalking, Jive-talking taxi drivers arrived they began to talk excitedly to each other about how good life was right now. However, August Wilson’s Jitney (an illegal cab firm that offers cheap fares for cheap rides in cheap cars) tells another side to their truth, writes Michael Holland.
This motley crew came from different backgrounds. There was a Vietnam vet, a jack-the-lad who thought he was God’s gift, much to the annoyance of at least one other driver; a drunk, and another who deemed himself the checkers champ of the world. He couldn’t win a game. But they had one thing in common: they were black and they were poor, and for most this driving job was just one of many different kinds of work they had to do to survive: work security on a door, run a numbers game… They worked extra jobs because they had to and their backstories explained why.
Being an all-male team the office conversations invariably revolved around male banter but this was mainly their egos talking to create a facade for the world, a mask that they could hide behind. When their guards came down Jitney became more interesting.
Of course, with all those alpha males coming together in that restricted space there will be clashes, differences of opinions, generation gaps, and conflicting attitudes, which Becker, the boss, has to referee. And all while the city developers are planning to knock down their building, putting them not just out of work but below the breadline. Once the eviction knowledge got out any frictions rubbed harder and faster. Becker’s estranged son was also getting out of jail after 20 years inside – Twenty years where Becker had refused to visit or speak to his murderer son.
At the interval, myself and theatre enthusiast, Julia, discussed our enjoyment of Jitney while also wondering what the point of it was. Where was it heading? What was the narrative?
Of course, there was a point and a narrative, which became clearer after the break. This 40-year-old play resonates as powerfully today as it would have then. But we are now very much aware of how the black population have been held back by institutional racism in just about every area of employment; we are extremely knowledgeable about how greedy developers run roughshod over whole working-class communities by moving them out to build apartments in glass and steel towers as investments for overseas buyers and are in an era where racism is out front and centre, not hidden away as it once was.
Act Two shows how these men struggled on with their lives every day, hoping beyond hope that their efforts would help future generations. We felt their pain.
At the end, all loose ends were tied. The awkward situation between Becker and his son Booster worsened before it finally resolved itself. – in a fashion. The regeneration was a metaphor for how the relationships between the men – as well as their lives – constantly regenerated.
The performances were all exceptional in this production that cuts a slice of life out of 70s America.
The Old Vic, The Cut, SE1 until July 9th. Times: Mon-Sat 7.30pm; Wed & Sat matinees 2.30pm. Admission: £12 – £65. Booking: www.oldvictheatre.com