Inside ‘Misty,’ the Play That Puts Gentrification on Trial
Can a discussion about gentrification be entertaining? That was a question Arinzé Kene wrestled with in creating Misty. The play within a play features a sparse set, spoken word, song, and more to explore a changing London through the lens of two characters.
While one grapples with his neighborhood evolving, the other, a playwright, puts pen to pen paper detailing the laundromat turned into a “swanky” coffee shop to seeing neighbors getting displaced and more. In each character the audience sees—and can perhaps identity with—the fight to stay true to who you and find your footing as the world around you changes. Making its stateside debut at The Shed through April 2, Kene sought to create a “dynamic” work that would prompt people to “come and learn something about each other.”
“The play isn’t saying ‘You’re good,’ ‘You’re bad’— it’s just shedding light on what gentrification does to a place,” Kene told The Daily Beast. “I don’t want anyone to feel judged, that’s not the point of the play.”