But will Americans want to see this? When New York theater people talk about Grenfell: In the words of survivors, a documentary play (originally staged at London’s National Theatre) chronicling the disastrous fire in a 24-story low-income apartment building in West London that killed 72 people and left countless others homeless in 2017, that is the question. Yes, it’s an enormously crowded season, both on and off Broadway, and one can’t see everything. My thought? Make Grenfell a priority. Playing until May 12 at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, it is a fulfilling theatrical experience, an education in humanity transcending mere entertainment. Tickets are priced reasonably enough, and I don’t think there is a bad seat in the house.
Why will Americans care? Because we should. Never disputed is the brilliance of this heartbreaking, mind-boggling, angering dramatic work. It’s brilliantly staged and directed by Phyllida Lloyd and Anthony Simpson-Pike and magnificently written by Gillian Slovo, who has aggregated, verbatim, the court testimonies and interviews of the surviving residents as well as local authorities, firefighters, and business owners. When it was staged in London, a therapist was on the premises in case any audience member was triggered. In Brooklyn, one is invited to leave the theater, regroup, and return if one can handle the intensity of emotions.