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The Mountaintop

Guildhall
Derby
18 Mar - 9 Apr 2011
Video Designer Ian William Galloway
Producer Derby Live
Director Tom Attenborough
Designer Simon Kenny
Lighting Designer Colin Grenfell
Sound Designer Adam McReady

It is April 3, 1968, the night before he dies. In room 306 of the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King orders coffee. Minutes later a young maid delivers it. She is beautiful. Like an angel in disguise. It’s her first day on the job – but, as King discovers, she doesn’t work for the hotel, and her commute has been entirely unconventional.

A new production of Katori Hall's 2009 Olivier Award-winning play for Derby Live, and the regional UK premiere. The original prouduction, by Theatre 503, was also designed by Mesmer.

The ending is a tour de force, brilliantly executed on this tiny stage. It’s a torrent of history and humanity in which the victory of a black president in the United States is only a step on the way.

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...And then comes the rallying call for someone else to pick up the baton after him. There's film of all the inspirational activists who follow Dr King, ending with president Barack Obama. The dream becomes reality. The production reaches its own pinnacle.

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