BLACK BATTLES WITH DOGS Southwark Playhouse

The plays of Bernard-Marie Kortès (1948-1989) are rarely performed in Britain. Alexander Zeldin’s revival makes you wonder why. The setting is a French construction site in West Africa. A black worker has died. His friend comes to collect his body. This presents problems. The worker has been murdered and hidden in a sewer. Can things be sorted out without further bloodshed? The actors maintain the tension throughout. There is a terrific performance by Joseph Ackerley as the killer, a panic-stricken, volatile, mouthy racist, out for what he can get and giving nothing back in return.