Afterword, Boy with Beer

July 20th, 2007 — Theatre

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Boy with Beer is a love story that tells of the relationship between two black men. Though certain of that, however, some theatre-goers have been inclined to assume the obvious: that the theme is the conflicts/contradictions involved in being both black and gay.

Confronted by racism in society, and heterosexism in their own communities, black gay men do face formidable challenges, but in fact the theme is much broader than that, and concerns itself with issues of black self love and the power dynamics at the heart of human relationships.

Boy with Beer, Man in the Moon Theatre, London

As a play about power, prejudice and the pressures of machismo, about an odd love affair and an extraordinary ‘rite of passage’, the struggle of strength in Boy with Beer is not just a conflict of men, or of male same-sex relationships, but is a conflict at the centre of any black love. Particularly in the Diaspora where black men and women have had to be strong, black love is almost automatically a competitive dance of strength between strong individuals who must find some level on which to communicate and operate as equals. So often what we find in our heterosexual community, for example, is the black man who needs a weaker partner, who is not going to confront him on the level of an equal, going for a spouse of another race, where perhaps the women have been taught to be meeker, more subservient, through their history.

As a story about two black men from different backgrounds, Boy with Beer also throws into relief some aspects of the love-hate relationship between Africans and Afro-Caribbeans, and between the working class and the upwardly mobile professional class living in Britain today. It investigates some of the social, emotional, political and historical baggage that black people carry as individuals and collectively. Because Karl is more emotionally and mentally developed than Donovan, we follow his attempts to raise Donovan’s consciousness, and how he has to resolve himself in order to share love and understanding with the younger man.

Bar the threat of HIV infection, the ending is ostensibly upbeat- `and they lived happily ever after’ - yet we know in our heart of hearts that there is still more work to be done; for `Mr Right’, our ideal mental construct, does not exist except in our own mind’s eye, and we must open our hearts to allow him to emerge in the best approximation that destiny has to offer. In this instance, history has conspired to make black men hate themselves. Yet despite this, black gay men love each other, can protect, comfort and care for each other in a society that despises `blackness’, and a black community that condemns their love. If there is purity in a love that is as essential as the loving of oneself, then when black men love each other in an environment that negates them, it is not a sign of sickness - it is a sign of health.

Then, on the other hand, and these are crucial questions for the reader and audience, can Donovan really love Karl and put him at risk of HIV infection? Does Karl really love himself when he foregoes the use of condoms? Is this simply a slice of real life? Or is there some deeper spiritual significance, a reunion of souls after ‘two thousand seasons past’, and a quest for unconditional love that transcends the physical here and now? Is it better for a brother to be prepared to die for a brother or to shoot him in the back with a gun?

Perhaps these musings are purely subjective and find no common ground at all with your own thoughts on the subject. Yet if Boy with Beer is nothing more than a simple tale of ‘black gay love’ and a call for respect, understanding and dialogue, then I believe it benefits every black man or woman who sees or reads it, some of whom I hope may see themselves reflected in the characters.

  • Watch the original (abridged) Boy with Beer
  • This Afterword first appeared in Black Plays: Vol 3 (New Theatrescripts) published by Methuen Drama (1995).

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