In Smith’s retelling, King wakes up in the hospital to a nurse leaning over him softly saying, “Don’t you worry none, mister brother King, they got it all on videotape.”Īfter the Rodney King verdict was announced in April 1992 (three of the LAPD officers were fully acquitted), South Central Los Angeles erupted into what would become known as the Rodney King Riots. Filling in details before, during, and after that vicious attack in 1991, Smith recounts King’s night of drinking with friends the high speed chase weaving from one freeway to another the 56 blows to King’s body, which Smith reenacts sonically with booming power in the microphone and King’s following five-hour-long reconstructive surgery. With his story, Smith spins a wide web of social and pop-culture references, contextualizing King’s life with the assassination of Malcolm X, the Watts Riots, and Bill Cosby’s Emmy Award (he was the first African American to win a Primetime Emmy)-all of which bore varying significance in the year 1965, when Rodney King was born, and upon which we reflect differently in hindsight. In his performance, Smith ironically says that night made King “the first reality TV star” after the recording of his beating went “viral before viral was viral.” King’s life in many ways was defined by one night in March 1991 when his brutal beating by four white police officers was caught on videotape by nearby resident George Holliday and later broadcast around the world. A steady beat is introduced, along with a robotic voice on repeat: “He lived in a modest home with a backyard pool.” Throughout a 60-minute monologue, a barefoot Smith plays the omniscient narrator, telling untold stories of Rodney Glen King, a black construction worker who lived in Altadena, California. The recorded sound of water moving and the dimming of stage lights signal the start of Roger Guenveur Smith’s solo performance of Rodney King at the Contemporary Arts Center.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |