[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Jamar Gilbert’s one-man show, Black and Blue, at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025.
Jamar Gilbert is an incredible actor and Black and Blue truly feels like his opus. He tells the story of several Black people in the States. An old learned man, a young boy, a cop, a radicalist, who views, I might say, should hardly be considered radical, and yet of course they are.
Through these four disparate characters, we follow threads of understanding, confusion, denial, frustration, hate, heartbreak and resilience. There is also a little acceptance, but that’s so much harder to define, isn’t it? These four people morph from one to another in a series of conversations. Not jumping around like some stories do, but linear and fluid and naturally from one to the next. A story is told and another begins. As if one soul is reborn in the next life.
And our world feels a little like that right now, doesn’t it? With every story we hear, every example given to us of bigotry, racism, disparity and abuse. Like it’s the same story over and over, just with different characters, new places, slightly altered circumstances, but always the same outcome. Two steps forward, 10 steps back.
While that might sound defeatist, Black and Blue absolutely isn’t. Jamar Gilbert’s artistry and exceptional talent give these stories such a deep sense of place and gravity that it’s as if what they tell us is not new exactly, but fresh. He finds a way to connect us with him and all these people who make what they say resonate all the more profoundly. How does he do that? Honestly, I cannot explain it fully. There is a magical quality to some people’s writing and some actor’s performance that belies description. Jamar Gilbert’s talent to create a world for us to inhabit for this short time is undefinable. He holds us in the palm of his hand, that I can tell you.
And while I know that once the house lights are down and the stage lights are up, actors can’t really make out the audience, I felt certain, somehow, that he was looking directly at me while he told his stories. Intense, powerful, beautifully rendered and unforgettable characters that stay with you long after the play is over.
Black and Blue is an important and moving piece of solo work. The stage is scattered with clothes Jamar sheds like skins as he works his way through every story and that visceral, shockingly poignant metaphor was not lost on me. Jamar Gilbert is an artist and Black and Blue is a stunningly potent performance by a masterful creator. Bravo indeed. Absolutely brilliant.
https://www.jalengilbert.com/about
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