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Two Trains RunningPart of The August Wilson Century CycleDateline: 7th May, 2008This seventh play in the sequence is introduced by Laurence Fishburne, who played the role of Sterling in both the original production and on Broadway. The century has advanced as far as 1969 now and the threat - or promise, depending upon your viewpoint - of Black Power is in the air of Pittsburgh. In some ways, the amateur philosopher Holloway might be summing up the dilemmas of everyone in these plays when he says "a nigger with a gun is bad news. You can't even use the word "nigger" and "gun" in the same sentence. You say the word "gun" in the same sentence with the word "nigger" and you're in trouble. The white man panic. Unless you say, "the policeman shot the nigger with his gun"... then that be all right". Two Trains Running features a typically diverse and unforgettable bunch of "hustlers, dreamers and outcasts" in Fishburne's words, every one of whom could easily be the protagonist of this drama, which takes place in the rundown, condemned diner belonging to Memphis. This is situated across the street from West's funeral parlour where, right at the start of the play, Prophet Samuel has started his final trip to heaven. It says much about the attitudes of these undervalued people that their main interest is not in the possibility of an afterlife but merely whether the undertaker or the suspected charlatan is the richer man. Memphis himself is hardly poor but definitely ornery, treating his waitress Risa like dirt, although she is capable of doing that to herself preferring self harm to the company of men. While Memphis believes in earning money through hard work and shrewd investment, Wolf is a gambler running a numbers racket from the cafe. He has lots of takers amongst the dirt poor who struggle to find work or pay at decent levels. That just leaves two contrasting characters. Fishburne's character, Sterling, is a younger man, just out of prison. He takes a shine to Risa but needs the numbers to come up to finance a wedding and future life together. However, this is unlikely to be his destiny and if all predictions are correct, this desperate chancer is more likely to be dead within a week or two. His only real hope of redemption is a trip to the legendary Aunt Ester from Gem of the Ocean. The biggest regret on reading the script is that Hambone, who was brought to life so memorably by Leon Addison Brown in Signature Theatre's New York production a couple of years ago seems two-dimensional on paper. Since he only had two different phrases, perhaps expectations should not have been so high. Compared to the figures that we met earlier in the century, life is beginning to look up, if only because there is hope for the future rather than merely the chance to escape from the past. Now, the ordinary Black people have the promise offered by Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, albeit both martyred for their cause and the word "opportunity" at least made it into their cognisance. Yet again, August Wilson presents an excellent play when looked at on its own merits, let alone as part of a larger work that is epic in scale. Yet again, his mixture of powerful storytelling, memorable symbolism and people whom you feel you must have met at some point but cannot quite remember when, is incredibly potent. Philip Fisher
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