August Wilson's

Review of August Wilson's "Radio Golf"

"Radio Golf" (set in the 1990s) concludes August Wilson's' monumental 10-play cycle chronicling 100 years of black struggle, in the Hill District, a Pittsburgh ghetto. I found "Radio Golf" to be a rich, carefully wrought human tapestry that is colorful, playful, thoughtful and compelling. The cast at The Huntington Theatre also really drew me in to an amazing performance.

Harmond Wilks, "Radio Golf's" hero, is a well-to-do realtor and a Cornell graduate, on the verge of becoming Pittsburgh's first black mayor. He is all energy and optimism about the future of the Hill District. With his partner, Roosevelt Hicks, a bank VP also on the fast track to power and wealth, he wants to demolish parts of the Hill District and, with government assistance, build apartments. In addition, Hicks wants to teach lower-income African-American children how to play golf as a way of getting ahead in a white man's world.

Most of what we learn about Harmond comes from what other people say, including shorthand references to his being haunted by a brother who died in Vietnam. Since it is Harmond's moral progress that shapes the play, we need to be allowed to know him more from within - to hear, to use Mr. Wilson's conceit, the specific as well as the historic song that defines him.

Hicks begins to think about a business venture with Bernie Smith, a white man who is buying a radio station. The FCC is favoring purchases by minority owners and Hicks sees this as his "shot" so he can afford to leave the oppressive bank. Harmond looks at the flip side of the deal where it seems that Smith is using Hicks, but he is also happy for his friend who will do anything to get ahead. (Wilson uses some foreshadowing here, but we don't know it at the time.)

While waiting for the City to declare the Hill District blighted and get the funding they need, Wilks receives two visitors who will prove to be pivotal in the development of the story. Enter Sterling Johnson, a fast-talker from the old neighborhood who is looking for a job in construction. He serves as a sort of mirror for Harmond as things unfold. Then Elder Joseph Barlow wanders in, in search of Christians. He talks in non-sequiturs, first describing the death and burial of his dog as if it just happened, garnering sympathy from Wilks, then revealing that it was eight years ago. He says he needs a lawyer and asks Wilks repeatedly to be his lawyer. The irony here is Harmond is not a lawyer. Old Joe, as he is called, is a pest, but an endearing one.

Once all of the characters have been introduced, Wilson goes on to seamlessly lay out the story and connect all the dots between them. Barlow claims to be the owner of an abandoned old house in the middle of the Bedford Hills project site. While it is slated for demolition, he wants to paint it and make it a home for his daughter, uninterested in any offer of compensation. It also turns out that Old Joe knew Harmond's father and late brother, and his mentioning of them dredges up the past and stirs many emotions within Wilks. He is forced to examine his actions and motivations vis-Ðo-vis the revitalization of the old neighborhood and the mayoral campaign. This self-reflection results in some decisions which are unpopular with both his wife