“The Rolling Stone” does not refer to the iconic American rock music journal, but to a very different publication of the same name. In 2010, the newspaper, based in Kampala, Uganda, began a series of sensational articles printing pictures, names, and addresses of individuals known to be or accused of being gay. The African country’s repressive laws against homosexuality and intense public homophobia led to acts of violence and harassment against those depicted.
In his new play, now at Lincoln Center’s Off-Broadway Mitzi Newhouse Theater, Chris Urch takes this tragic factual material and fashions a moving, if somewhat melodramatic and conventional drama.
Urch creates believable characters, played with sensitivity by a well-tuned cast and directed with nuance by Saheem Ali. Dembe (appealing Ato Blankson-Wood) is a sweet, closeted gay young man about to take his exams to study abroad as is his devoted sister Wummie (the intense and unflinching Latoya Edwards). He is engaged in a secret affair with Sam (tender and moving Robert Gilbert), an Irishman with a Ugandan mother, working as a doctor. Dembe must chose between being honest to himself and loyalty to his family when his brother Joe (fiery James Udom) is elevated to pastorship of his financially strapped church and prepares to preach a virulently antigay sermon to drum up funds.
Also in the Rolling Stone mix is the pious neighbor Mama (fearsome Myra Lucretia Taylor) who is pushing her daughter Naome (eloquently silent Adenike Thomas), stuck mute for unknown reasons, on Dembe and advocating for Joe’s harsh denunciation of the LGBT community. The emotions and issues are real and feelingly depicted, but the conclusion and the mechanics of the plot feel a trifle forced and artificial. No spoilers here, but at the final curtain, the characters seem like figures in a melodrama rather than real people facing a genuine crisis and dealing with it believably.
Despite the mawkish ending, The Rolling Stone’s overall impact is devastating as dreams, loves, and ambitions are crushed by the forces of economic hardship, family ties, and unreasoning hatred of the other.
