Born Bad

by debbie tucker green

Debbie Tucker Green is an urgent and distinctive new Black British writing talent. "The overall effect is of having swallowed a scalding cup of triple espresso coffee in one gulp. The burn stays with you after you have left the theatre."— The Guardian "Love it or loathe it, Tucker Green’s work is already making its mark."— The Independent

Genres: Plays, Theatre

64 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up.

Not quite as tightly constructed nor as skillful as hang, the only other play of green's I've read. Here, I thought the same things kept being said/not said in a circular fashion, and the subject matter alluded to, but never addressed directly, made me a bit antsy. And I wasn't crazy about the dialogue being written in patois (e.g., "That mi c'yant give brudda a squeeze all now? Yu exclusivisin' him like that is it?"), as several times I couldn't make out what the words were even supposed to be. Am still interested in reading the rest of her prolific canon, however.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fast paced piece with beautifully constructed characters. The plot is nearly hidden from us as we see the main character, DAWTA, struggle to get her family to remember a painful memory within their family.

Reading the play is rough because you need the strength of incredible actors to bring these characters’ history to life beyond what is said. The dialogue only ever shows us what is happening; we are not really told what is happening at all (although conjecture can take place to piece together what it is that happened). With a strong cast and an even stronger director, this piece would come to life as a firey, blazing glory that will haunt you long after the show ends, I’m sure.

The only thing that could make this piece stronger was if there was more history about the characters revealed beyond the voices Tucker Green gives each character. We can hear what kind of people these characters are solely by how they speak and construct their thoughts, but I think there would be a better connection with these characters if we knew more about them (besides the plot).

[elestanquequehabla · Rating 4 out of 5]

La poética de tucker green se me hace tan fascinante como densa. Es como si le estuviese hablando a alguien muy querido, con un código muy íntimo, pero también espera que el resto la escuche, y espera que uno se dé el trabajo de entender, sobre todo de encontrar las herramientas para entender lo que plantea. Es deslumbrante cómo el solo ejercicio de decir se vuelve algo tan difícil, tan relevante. Cómo decir puede volverse una crisis.

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is a rating based on my personal taste as I can understand how many would love this but I wanted a bit more from this, it felt like a continual building that personally didn't pay off, just fizzled out at the end with the black outs. I do like the dialect spelling though and green is so talented at creating such different character voices.

[Eve Lister · Rating 4 out of 5]

Circumspect in its dialogue and acidic in its subject matter. Scary good.