The Shipment

Overview

I imagine The Shipment to be a little like watching Eddie Murphy's Raw: hilarious and uncomfortable in the extreme. The difference is that the writer in this case, Young Jean Lee, is no black stand-up comedian but a Korean-born, Brooklyn-based, experimental theatre-maker. A self-described avant-garde artist, Lee's method of working is to force herself to write plays about the things she least wants to write about, demanding a constant extension of herself and her practice. With an awareness of her own discomfort with black identity politics, Lee has created a work that bends, twists and subverts our tendency to see things in racial terms — in 'black and white'.

But don't mistake serious intentions for a serious show: The Shipment won't disappoint Murphy fans either. Inappropriate laughs and language abound, not to mention a shuck and jive dance scene. Lee works as both playwright and director with her ensemble cast, resulting in a piece of theatre which is as energetic and determined as she is. The testament to this is that since opening in Brooklyn in April 2008 the cast have barely stopped touring.