'Blood of my Blood' review — this striking new play tackles the legacy of slavery

Read our review of Joy Nesbitt's Blood of my Blood, now in performances at the Royal Court to 7 November.

Summary

• Joy Nesbitt's play Blood of my Blood premieres at the Royal Court
• The play takes place on a South Carolina plantation in both 1862 and the present day
• This striking piece presents an intriguing new voice

Blood of my Blood is UK-based American theatremaker’s Joy Nesbitt’s debut work at the Royal Court. With its themes of ancestry, power, inheritance and capitalism, featuring dual timelines in 1862 (on the eve of the abolition of slavery) and the present day, it’s a striking piece that presents an intriguing new voice.

The modern-day protagonist is Talulah (Jodie Campbell), a young woman from Shepherd’s Bush whose late grandfather, who raised her following the deaths of her parents, hailed from Bullock Creek, South Carolina, which she is now visiting. She is also pregnant, which she is less than delighted about. The purpose of the trip is to seek answers from her ancestors who were enslaved on the Whitby Plantation, and she is staying in their former cabin which is now available to rent on Airbnb.

Natalie Pryce’s naturalistic set design, presented head on with the audience seated on either side, comprises a one-room living space with a tree outside that’s beautifully lit by Simisola Majekodunmi. It’s a space that, if the context is unknown, could be framed as a charmingly rustic getaway from modern excess.

The cabin was the home of Talulah’s earliest known ancestor Ginnie (the dignified Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ), who had five children with John “Doc” Good, the man who owned her. What matters most is that they are being trained to work in the house and won’t be sent into the fields, but she has no control over what could happen in the future. Her friend Bertha (Karene Peter) is making plans to escape but Ginnie is tied to her complex relationship with Doc, and, of course, her children.

The modern strand involves a cringe comedy of manners that’s frequently very funny. "Superhost” Nora (Hannah Morrish), with her Trader Joe’s tote bag and blithe cheeriness, is keen to befriend her mysterious guest. The former plantation has been in her husband James’s family and its use as an events venue and holiday lets has put him through his PhD. She acknowledges that it was “a complicated time” – but they’re offering access to the past through the property.

Former plantations monetised as Airbnbs and party venues are a real phenomenon. Nora recalls the wedding of an interracial couple in which the bride cosplayed as Scarlett O’Hara and the groom was in shackles – but they looked so happy that she couldn’t bring herself to condemn the grotesquerie of the spectacle.

Patrick Vaill plays both the manoeuvring Doc and his descendant James, a history professor specialising in Irish immigrants who escaped violence and seized an opportunity as slave owners. He’s a man-baby and a terrible historian. Niecey (also Peter), James’s student and “helper”, explains that the plantation is “an open wound. And we need it”, so that people don’t forget.

Framed by incantations from “Hoodoo” or “Conjure” rituals, some of the supernatural elements are a touch contrived, but the power of the work shines through. It will be interesting to see what Nesbitt does next.

Blood of my Blood is at the Royal Court to 7 November. Book Blood of my Blood tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: Blood of my Blood (Photos by Marc Brenner)