Apollo Theatre, til 14 June 2025 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Calais Cameron again proves his writing prowess with whip-smart second play.

Though he’s been an actor for more than 15 years, Ryan Calais Cameron’s biggest claim to fame is writing 2021’s West End mega-hit For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy. It was a five-star review from me for that stunning multi-form piece of theatre that presented a nuanced portrait of being a Black man in Britain today. In Retrograde, Calais Cameron once again examines race but in a very different context: 1950s New York, where racial and political tensions intersect and are escalating into what will later become the American civil rights movement. In For Black Boys Calais Cameron used six allegorical characters to sum up a generation of men; in Retrograde he takes the opposite approach, telling a very specific story from the real life of trailblazing Black actor Sidney Poitier.

The play depicts Poitier on the cusp of making it big. Though he’s already garnered plenty of praise for his work on screen, he’s in the offices of MGM bigwig Larry Parks to sign a major studio contract. Accompanying him is his personal friend Bobby, an exceedingly ambitious and right-on screenwriter who’s convinced his new film – in which Poitier is set to star – is going to change the face of America. Poitier and Bobby are at first eager to sign on the dotted line, but it soon becomes clear the forthright but slippery Parks has ulterior motives. As Poitier’s politics and associations are unrelentingly scrutinised by Parks – all in the name of stress-testing his ‘American Values’ – it becomes clear Poitier must make a heartbreaking choice: seize the dream that is about to become reality, or hold fast to his personal integrity. 

Retrograde is a very contained play – it’s got three characters, one setting and no act break over its 90-minute runtime. Its drama spawns entirely from its characters just talking to each other – theatre in its purest form. Fortunately for the audience, as he has already proved, Calais Cameron is a master storyteller and this play is whip-smart. Comedic riffing in broad New York accents soon gives way to loaded exchanges; anecdotes from Poitier’s life and rumours about his career choices convey how his self-worth has seen him branded uppity and difficult – a Black man who doesn’t know his place. After much probing and prodding of Poitier, in which we get the measure of the man – both his righteousness and his fear – Parks finally offers him a deal with the devil, asking him to sell out his close friend to close the deal. And so the story becomes rather like an ancient tragedy – will our heroic, principled protagonist’s moral code stand up against its greatest test? It’s good drama in the most traditional sense, written exceedingly well. 

If you’re going to make a play that’s just three men talking, the three men doing the talking better be bloody brilliant – and this cast nails the brief. Oliver Johnstone has probably the simplest task with Bobby, but delivers what’s required and has a few great comedic lines to boot. Stanley Townsend has a bit more of a meaty part in Parks – his humour and joviality in early scenes only underscore his manipulative bent. But of course, the star of the show is Ivanno Jeremiah as Poitier. I first saw Jeremiah in the brilliant Channel 4 series Humans, in which he managed to lend incredible sensitivity to his depiction of a robot. He brings that deep well of humanity to Poitier: he’s by turns poised, anguished, charming and deeply afraid. One of the most powerful scenes of the play is a showdown between Poitier and Bobby in which the actor laments his friend’s inability to sympathise with his plight; Jeremiah’s portrayal shows us Poitier’s heartbreak but with an extraordinary sense of the man’s dignity. 

There’s not much to fault in the technical execution of Retrograde – it’s adeptly directed by Amit Shah and the sets, costume and lighting all suffice. Perhaps in that sense I could’ve given it five stars, though I felt it just wouldn’t be fair to place it on the same footing as For Black Boys. (That being Calais Cameron’s curse, of course – having made his writing debut with a truly astounding, once-in-a-generation piece of theatre, he will forever be living up to that standard.) Though Retrograde equally shows Calais Cameron’s talent for clever dialogue and complex characterisation, it’s not quite as ambitious in terms of the way it’s staged and performed. 

Nonetheless, in Retrograde Calais Cameron tells a riveting story in which the personal really is political and integrity comes at a cost. Calais Cameron and Jeremiah’s layered, compassionate portrait of Poitier is a fitting homage to a man whose courage blazed a trail for many young actors – and young Black men – who came after him. I can only assume Calais Cameron is a personal fan of Poitier’s; he could pen no better tribute to him. 

Visit the Apollo Theatre website for tickets to Retrograde.