State Red review, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs

There's a bit of Old Bill overkill at Hampstead at the moment. Upstairs Roy Williams' Wildefire is bludgeoning audiences over the head with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in for effect. Downstairs, Atiha Sen Gupta's State Red is the polar opposite: a look at institutionalised racism and how it blights both the police and the policed, told through the story of a mixed-race cop who drops a bombshell the night before his white father is named as the new Police Commissioner.

Luke's been gone a year after suffering a minor breakdown. He was the officer who shot dead an unarmed black teenager in a stand-off. It becomes clear in a heated exchange with his best friend and colleague, Matthew, that he's rethought events. He believes the order to shoot was based on the boy's  race, not the danger presented. He fired because he was angry, he says, at being called a 'coconut'. And because Matthew backed him. The inquest is a week away. Luke intends to change his standard self-defence story. In doing so, he risks destroying everything his father has worked for...

What I  most enjoyed about State Red, although it may not have been intended, were the complexities of being a mixed race child, and seeing a mixed marriage as part of a plot rather than a function of integrated casting. Luke ducks and dives around race - around his parents and his best friend - to win points. With only the words 'black' and 'white' to help differentiate on questions that are invariably grey, intelligent discussion becomes impossible. With every utterance, someone in the family's front room claims discrimination.  Where does Matthew who has loved them all, fit?  It's very interesting watching the conversational ball being passed and ideas traded and traduced.

In conclusion: There's too much dialogue, but Sen Gupta raises interesting questions in State Red. While we have no idea where in the men's narratives the truth lies, what's concerning is what their debate suggests - that far from solving the problem the truth might blur or exacerbate it. How can we ever square the circle if that is the case?

References
State Red, Tickets

Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London NW3.   Run ends December 6.