The smell of cigarettes and coffee hangs thick in the air as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. winds down from a day of preaching and marching.
An intimate look into the quieter moments of King’s life, The Mountaintop chips away at the myth of the great man to expose his fears about his family, his country and the ever-looming threat of a violent death. The production is on at Oxford’s North Wall until Saturday October 20.
Set during the height of America’s Civil Rights Movement, Katori Hall’s sharp and powerful play confronts the legend and his legacy. Are we really free or do we live in a world of false liberation?
John Hoggarth and Ria Parry, co-directors of The North Wall, said: “We were fortunate to catch Roy Alexander Weise’s superb production of The Mountaintop during its sell out run at The Young Vic. It remains one of our most memorable nights at the theatre and we cannot wait to share Katori Hall’s phenomenal play with our audiences in the intimate surroundings of The North Wall.”
[caption id=“attachment_43474” align=“aligncenter” width=“704”]
Photograph by Helen Murray[/caption]
Gbolahan Obisesan plays Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. As an actor, his theatre include The Mountaintop (Young Vic), The Bird Woman Of Lewisham (Arcola Theatre), The Inspectors Call (Etcetera Theatre), Concrete Jungle, Piano Forte (Courtyard Theatre), Holyland (Edinburgh/Pleasance/Lyric Hammersmith), The Arbitrary Adventures Of An Accidental Terrorist (Lyric Hammersmith), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oedipus The King, A Hip-Hop Musical (Bloomsbury Theatre). Television credits include Forty-something; Watch Over Me!; and short film credits include The Good Son, Beyond the Blade. Obisesan is also a playwright and director.
Rochelle Rose plays Camae. For theatre her work includes Cinderella, Aladdin (Oxford Playhouse), The Winter’s Tale (Orange Tree Theatre), Shipwrecked! The Amazing Adventures of Louis De Rougemont (Jack Studio Theatre), Jack and the Beanstalk (Lyric Hammersmith) and Monkey Don’t Stop No Show (Eclipse Theatre). For television, her work includes Lawful Killing; for short film work includes Pipe Up and Ghosts.
For further information visit www.thenorthwall.com
