The Black Wolfe Tone
- Yani Perez
- 17 hours ago
- 2 min read
The world premiere of The Black Wolfe Tone, presented by Irish Repertory Theatre in association with Fishamble: The New Play Company, offers a deeply personal exploration of identity, mental health and acceptance.
The piece follows a mixed-race Irish boy reckoning with forgiveness, rage, and the ache of not being fully seen. Fortune's script moves quickly, blending lyrical introspection with vivid snapshots of memory and confrontation. The character is sharp, self-aware, and hurting. He takes the audience on a journey unpacking generational trauma, masculine expectations, and a longing to be held by the world around him. There's tenderness under the anger and hope tucked inside the grief.
Under the direction of Nicola Murphy Dubey, the production draws us into the mind of a young man confronting inner turmoil, cultural expectations, and the ghosts of a complicated past. Kwaku Fortune is superb! Fortune's command of both language and presence. His connection to both character and material is uncanny. His performance is haunting, exhilarating, and magnetic, shifting fluidly between vulnerability and fury, fury commanding the stage with such depth that you can't look away for even a moment.
Maree Kearns's minimalist scenic design and Denis Clohessy's pulsing soundscape support the emotional weight of the show without overwhelming it, while Adam Honoré's lighting moves with the piece's rhythms, shifting tone and tension seamlessly.
The Black Wolfe Tone doesn't just tell a story; it invites us to sit with emotionally raw discomfort, reckon with identity, and make space for voices that don't often get center stage. It's a play that doesn't give easy answers but asks urgent, necessary questions, leaving audiences breathless and moved.
Written and Performed by Kwaku Fortune
Directed by Nicola Murphy Dubey
May 1- June 1, 2025
Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street, NYC)
Yani Perez, M.F.A., is a poet, playwright, translator, and educator. Her plays have been presented in various theaters in the United States, such as La Mama and Yale University, as well as internationally in Bogotá, Colombia. She works at IATI Theater, one of the oldest Latinx theaters in NYC. She is currently working on translations of Latinx artists in hopes of introducing them to English-speaking audiences.
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