Now playing at The Arts Club Theatre – Granville Island Stage “The Mountaintop” imagines the story of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s last night on earth. April 3rd, 1968, exhausted from delivering his iconic “I have Been to the Mountaintop” speech, Dr King returned to his hotel room at the Lorraine Hotel, the next day King was assassinated. “The Mountaintop” imagines what happened during that fateful night as the Reverend prepared for his next days sermons, not knowing what god had in store for him…or did he know?
Taking place completely within the faithfully recreated Lorraine Hotel room, Dion Johnstone portrays Dr King with the same charisma as the original preacher and Crystal Balint plays Camae, the sassy, southern hotel maid who takes King’s mind off the day’s ordeals while reminding him of both his humanity and martyrdom.
The audience feels like a fly on the wall in the room as the intimate relationship develops between the two characters.
Playwright Katori Hall found a good balance of humour and fantasy to counter the political overtones and knowledge of what lies ahead for King. Janet Wright’s direction maintains the intimacy of the room and the relationship of the two characters while showing the global reach of King’s message and the politics of the late 1960’s. The play wraps with a rousing sermon that “passes the baton” of the movement through the generations and from actor to audience. As fiction mixes with reality the spectator is drawn into the performance, firmly entrenching “The Mountaintop” in the psyche of the viewer.
The Mountaintop plays at The Arts Club Granville Island Stage until March 14th. The performance runs 90 minutes with no intermission.