Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Denise) in Death of England: CLOSING TIME. Credit - Helen Murray. Penned by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams, each episode can be viewed as a standalone production but rarely do opportunities present themselves to witness such powerful and provocative story-telling which plumbs the depths of modern societal opinions and racial stereotyping. In so doing, each chapter challenges audiences to question their own ingrained views and subconscious biases by living through the experiences of another. Complacency about difference has rarely been so utterly engrossing, compelling, educational or indeed, unsettling.
The final instalment concerns two women about whom we have heard much in the previous two elements, namely Delroy’s mother Denise (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) and Carly his girlfriend and the mother to his daughter Megan, (Erin Doherty). Having at first assumed a frosty and mistrusting dislike for one another, they gradually develop a mutual respect and embark on a shop venture together. The operation — half florist, half Caribbean food outlet, begins to founder when Covid hits, due largely to Denise’s illness following refusal to take the vaccine. When Carly drunkenly posts online tips on how a white woman can best keep her black man happy, she invokes the wrath of black women and virtue signallers everywhere, leading to a cancel culture boycott of the shop, its failure as an enterprise and the loss of Carly and Denise’s savings used to bankroll the venture.
Throughout the exchanges and moments when each performer gets an opportunity to explain their side of events and the overlooked nuances of their personal perspective (sometimes directly to the audience), lines are delivered at an often blistering, Gatling-Gun pace, which requires an acute ear and full attention at all times. Both performers gain our sympathy and incur our contempt in equal measure but by the end, one universal truth emerges, that if we don’t listen to each other, if we don’t put ourselves in another’s shoes and imbue our personalities with a generous pinch of humanity in this, the social media age, we will simply end up living in a world where the slightest failing, mistake, misjudgement or misspoken utterance will damn us to ignominy and isolation.
Once again the creative team have their finger on the pulse to such an extent that even Kamala Harris and her bid for the US Presidency is touched upon. In a world where communications immediacy has altered perceptions and swamped us all with a constant stream of information (and an equal measure of misinformation), it is good to know that live theatre work continues to display such agility and responsiveness to the world around it.
