Winsome Pinnock’s disarming yet ebullient drama, ‘The Authenticator,’ staged at London’s Dorfman Theatre, presents an unexpected comedic lens through which to explore the profound and often painful legacies of enslavement and erased Black histories.
The play centers on two Black academics, Abi (Rakie Ayola) and Marva (Cherrelle Skeete), who are tasked with the crucial job of authenticating a cache of 18th-century diaries. These documents were unearthed by Fenella ‘Fen’ Harford (Sylvestra Le Touzel), a direct descendant of Henry Harford, who now manages his illustrious country estate.
The diaries meticulously cataloged life on Henry Harford’s Jamaican farm, operated by enslaved people. While Fen initially presents her ancestor as possibly having abolitionist sympathies, Abi and Marva’s meticulous investigation soon begins to reveal disturbing evidence of his brutality in Jamaica, setting a compelling dramatic tension against the play’s lighter touch.