‘Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up in South Africa, New York City, Memphis - the cry is the same:"We want to be free”. Let us stand with determination to make America a better nation. I just want to do God's will. I have been to the Mountaintop. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know that we will get to the Promised Land!’ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jnr. 3rd April, 1968
In his powerful, prophetic, 43 minute speech in Memphis, the Baptist minister used a biblical reference to Moses who led the Israelites to Mount Sinai and Canaan, the Promised Land, as a metaphor for equal rights for Black Americans.
With a clap of thunder and lashing rain, Dr. King arrives at his Motel room, weary but elated, already working on another oratory, Why America is going to hell -“They really gonna burn me on the cross for that one,” he mutters to himself. He picks up the phone for Room service and Camae, a bright, bubbly young waitress in an orange uniform arrives with a pot of coffee. As she also has a packet of cigarettes, King invites her to stay for a chat.
The play is a reimagining of events that night - his last night before he is assassinated. The stage design of the shabby Motel room - bed, desk, TV - is far from naturalistic with a platform tilted at a steep angle, surrounded by church pews and an organ half submerged in thick soil of the earth.
Camae clearly reveres the civil rights leader and wishes she had heard his speech, ‘I heard you carried on a storm up at Mason Temple. They say folks was all cryin’. I woulda liked to have seen that. Somethin’ to tell my chirren’.
Camae is short for Carrie Mae, the playwright’s mother who had been desperate to hear King’s speech but was not allowed to attend, which inspired the play. She is a spirited, opinionated girl who believes his tactics aren’t forceful enough -“Like I say,” she says, “walkin’ will only get us so far.”
Caleb Roberts quietly portrays King’s sense of failure and vulnerability while Camae observes the things that make him an ordinary man and a sinner — holes in his socks, his vanity and marital infidelity – rather than a saint. During their soul-searching conversation about mutual hopes and fears, this strange, flirtatious, late night encounter delves into existential questions on life, divinity and death.
Shannon Hayes captures both Camae’s sunny personality and serious beliefs with wit and candour through her rhythmic singsong Southern drawl (at first tricky to tune into the Tennessee twang). Eventually she reveals her true identity as an angel of death, given the task to guide the civil rights leader through his final hours on Earth.
Room 306 has become a place of purgatory for meditation on the inevitability of death and confront his destiny; King even has the opportunity to talk to God, a black woman, in a light hearted humorous scene.
Delightfully reminiscent of Clarence the Guardian angel in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ who helps George see the positive impact he has on his family and community, Camae, in her supernatural, spiritual role, symbolises the power of hope, faith and compassion.
The inventive, insightful concept for the play creates a gritty, gripping two hander drama as Roberts and Hayes develop a close, charismatic relationship. But at times Hall’s poetic dialogue is rarely allowed to sing, due to Roberts' increasingly monotonous vocal manner and verbose sermonising which lacks emotional intensity. The essence of theatricality relies too much on the stark, surreal Beckettian design, trapping the characters in a tangle of climbing ropes on the mountainous stage.
The recurring soundscape of thunder claps and organ chords succinctly evokes King’s dark tempestuous mood, his fear of failure and death. Like an allegorical fantasy, he is akin to King Lear facing his own personal storm, before he hands on the baton, his legacy, to fight for justice.
Showtimes:
31st May – 21st June, 2025
Ticket price: from £16 (concessions available)
Age: 12 +
https://lyceum.org.uk/events/the-mountaintop#dates-and-times