Review: THE NICETIES, Finborough Theatre

Hailed by The New York Times as "bristling" and "provocative" during its Off-Broadway run, Eleanor Burgess's abrasive The Niceties is exactly that.

Janie Dee and Moronke Akinola take on the roles of Ivy League history professor Janine and student Zoe. During a meeting to review the latter's thesis, their conversation about trivial grammatical mistakes in the writing escalates to a complicated discussion on race. Matthew Iliffe directs this debate play, which explores systemic internalised racism and the ugly truth of standing on the middle ground.

The subject matter and its delivery make the show a social justice warrior's wet dream, with Zoe's snappy clap-backs schooling the white older woman. However, as Janine says, "It's not that easy". These exceptionally clever minds who've overcome very different sets of struggles are meeting and declining to accept one another fully. Both are pretentious and entitled, and neither of them really sees it. They call each other out for their views but don't actually offer any kind of effective approach to change the system, discrediting each other continuously - directly or not.

Zoe's methods are brash and perhaps even inconsiderate; her passion for equality and justice blurs her vision and leads her to engage in a power struggle with her teacher. Janine has age and education on her side and tries to impose both of them on the Black young woman, refusing to allow her to prove her wrong. According to the student, Janine is only interested in fitting Zoe's ideas into a flawed existing structure.

Zoe's ideals are righteous. She requests the curriculum to be decolonised and the presidents of the United States to be recognised as slavers; she demands action to be taken to have African-American students feel like they belong, and for "the faculty of this university [to] match the population of the United States". Everything she says is just and quick, and her dedication to fight the good fight is fiery and intransigent.

Her methods, however, are too simplistic to be effective here. Her address starts as a noble and fair elaboration of her feelings and intentions but spirals into a dogmatic and slightly problematic ending. Janine is, on her part, unwilling to recognise Zoe's points of view adequately. Whether she's employing defence mechanisms or out of experience, she shoots her counterpart down with arrogant blanket statements. So, they go around in circles with Zoe's idealism being met by Janine's invalidation, creating a chain reaction.

Iliffe turns the characters into satellites. They stalk Rachel Stone's set, pouncing on each other, armed with their causes. Dee and Akinola present intense deliveries that both fall short on nuance due to the nature of the script. The actresses both unfortunately stumble on their lines regularly throughout the very American play, only at times managing to conceal the fumbles in the feistiness of their speeches.

Its politics are left up in the air and no real conclusion is given to it, as an exceptionally heavy and arguably problematic line hangs in the air before the final blackout. This is certainly complex and dangerous territory that can be narrowed down into oversimplified explanations too easily. What's clear is that The Niceties starts a conversation and highlights the generational and racial complications inherent to the political dialogue, but ultimately leaves a bitter taste by making this dramatised debate unequal.

The Niceties runs at Finborough Theatre until 26 October.

Photo credit: Ali Wright

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