Relentless

Written By Rick McCain

I seldom start a review with praise, but Relentless is one of those plays that should be considered a historical masterpiece that will have you spellbound and wanting more, even after sitting for three hours. With standing ovations at each performance, we can 100% guarantee you will love this play. You will be leaving the theater asking and praying for a sequel. It’s just that darn good!

Playwright Tyla Abercrumbie blows us away with this brilliant and wonderfully written play that points out one of the main reasons Black Americans feel enslaved by hatred and racism that still plagues us today.  Abercrumbie teams up with one of Chicago's greatest directors Ron OJ Parsons as they bring this world premiere play RELENTLESS to TimeLine Theater at The Goodman Theatre. 

Developed through TimeLine's Playwrights Collective and set during the Black Victorian era, RELENTLESS brings together two sisters and their late mother's past that opens up into a complex problem of secrets from the past 100 years that still lives within our society today.  The setting is from the Black Victorian era, where we get to peek back into 1919, where two sisters, who are well educated and affluent, come home to Philadelphia to sell their mother's house, who has recently died. Annelle and Janet love each other dearly; however, their views about life, love, and liberty contrast. 

Annelle is a happy socialite who seeks to dazzle men with her sophistication and charm, but inside her is a frightened child who seeks comfort by living an illusionary life to protect her from life. Her sister, Janet, is a nurse who has lived as a protective older sister. Still, deep inside, she is frustrated with being seen as young, gifted, but black and determined to bring Black women into their prominence; she fights against a world that doesn't seem to notice her.   

As Janet battles with the thought of selling her mother's house, she discovers diaries written by her mother detailing a secret past that the girls never knew. Janet is Relentless in wanting to know her mother more, but Annelle doesn't feel the need to learn anything that would damage her fragile existence. During this explosive and chilling play, the audience learns about the hidden and seldom discussed racism from the eyes of one woman Zhuukee.  

RELENTLESS is that once-in-a-lifetime play that anyone should see. This play centers the audience on the hatred and racism blacks experienced over 100 years ago, which correlates to the hate and racism we still experience today. It sent a more profound message as to why that hateful and racist past destroyed the rich culture of Black Americans. It tarnished the beauty, grace, and honor we once enjoyed in the Black Victorian era, where we owned businesses, land, and property; when the dollar would circulate within communities like the Greenwood District at least 36 times before it left the neighborhood.  

Abercrumbie masterfully forces Americans to see the damage caused by letting hatred rule over love for all humanity and the lingering consequences this melting pot philosophy has contributed to the division we currently exhibit. 

The cast of RELENTLESS was phenomenal. Ayanna Bria Bakari, Jaye Ladymore, Xavier Edward King, Travis Delgado, Demetra Dee, and Rebecca Hurd provided a stellar performance. This is the second time in months that I’ve seen this play and you can see the excellent polishing of the characters each actor has developed, making Relentless a Broadway must for New York. Performances so engaging, you will be enthralled as they colorfully converse about their struggles, fears, and relentless determination to overcome the hatred they endure while under covering the secret life of Annabelle Lee and revealing some secrets of their own. 

This is one of those plays that you will regret if you don’t attend. RELENTLESS will travel the world and we can be proud to say it came from Chicago.

RELENTLESS is well written, well-directed, well-performed, and well played!

Let's Play HIGHLY RECOMMENDS Timeline Theatre Company’s RELENTLESS at the Goodman Theatre. 

Lastly, violence against the black race in America goes back to slavery, but few know or even discuss the past racial violence. People who caused this violence like to focus on what Black Americans are doing against each other. However, the past scars listed below are like a birth defect that can never be removed. 













Rick McCain
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