Alan Sillitoe’s 1959 short story "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" focuses on Colin Smith, a working class young man who finds himself in a prison school (populated by other working class young men) after getting caught for petty theft.  Before his sentence, Colin’s running habit helps him escape from police; once caught, he continues running to escape the inanity of the juvenile justice system. A man called Stevens, conducting research on poor youth in prison schools, takes an interest in Colin and persuades him to represent the prison school in a government-run long distance race “bringing together people, pupils, together from all walks of life.”  Colin agrees to race, but does so on his own terms instead of the Establishment’s.

It's a story that, despite being written over 50 years ago, is just as compelling and relevant today.  Roy Williams faithfully contemporizes Sillitoe’s class rage that landed him on the extreme end of Britain’s Angry Young Men literary movement.  He smartly updates the working class characters of 1950s Nottingham to a racially diverse cast of characters living during David Cameron’s administration.  This logical adjustment highlights the link between racial and economic inequality, as well as the continued criminalization of the working class.

Sheldon Best is stunning as Colin.  His amazing athleticism never rests.  He runs through the entire play, occasionally stopping to do push ups or burpees, while processing his personal rage at a societal structure that oppresses him.  Jasmine Cephas Jones is especially powerful as Kenisha, Colin’s “gal.”  Kenisha is the only character that comes close to matching Colin’s explosive charisma.

The only dramatic downfall of the adaptation is that, like the short story, it focuses solely on Colin’s (largely mental) journey at the exclusion of any the other characters’ development.  A skilled ensemble, playing Colin’s cellmates, family, friends, and police captors, are all reduced to ancillary moving parts around the hero.  I wish that hero were given the chance to meaningfully engage with the silhouettes around him.  Williams’s strict adherence to Sillitoe’s solitary Colin doesn’t serve the dramatization of the story.

Ultimately, Colin forges his own identity through long distance running.  The outcome of the race is irrelevant.  Running gives him power when he has none, and it’s a joy to watch this personal and physical journey crystallize on stage.