Review: Radar LA, "Rodney King" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

Rodney King begins with a montage of sinens, hip hop, an ominous replaying synthesized beat and transitions into something you might hear at a hip cocktail lounge. Before the actor, Spike Lee's protege Roger Guenveur Smith, comes out on stage, I felt like someone might come by with my cocktail. However, this feeling was quickly altered as soon as Roger makes his entrance. At first, I wasn't sure whether to be offended for African Americans or if I was missing something deeper. But, even though this feeling of mild confusion combined with discovery lasted for about the first 20 minutes, eventually I assimilated into Roger's extremely movement-based fluid evening of improvised, satirical commemoration of the late Rodney King. 

Although I did appreciate the artistry behind Roger's fluid performance, it was not my favorite piece of Radar LA theatre. It's a little bit like going to a spoken-word, dance style history lesson. As a girl that was not even two months old when the LA race riots occurred, I learned a lot about about the history surrounding this tragedy, this pivotal moment of LA history through Roger's performance. He truly flows from one moment, one commentary, one opinion to the next with the swirl of his foot, the sweet of his hand. Some moments are especially jarring and moving. He has a talent for getting in your face with a character, but we're still on board with the message.

Do I think I could have learned more in a less dance-like abstract delivery? Perhaps. Did I appreciate this form of theatrical delivery? Absolutely. Did I not understand a lot of the performance...yes, I didn't. But, that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the show at some capacity. 

After a survey of a number of different audience members, it seems evident that this show is receiving very mixed reviews. I did like the show, but I wished I could have understood it better. However, I feel that Roger is a talented performer and I would not hesitate to watch him perform in the future, both on stage and on screen. I'm actually quite curious to see what he comes up with next.

Rodney King ran from September 14th to October 6th at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City in rotation with two other one-man shows as part of the Radar LA Theatre Festival.