Split second

by Dennis McIntyre

86 pages, Hardcover

Reviews

[Brian McCann · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is amazing about this play — which reads like an 80s police drama — is that this author captures the racial world of this play while being an outsider. I agree with a review from 1984 that I read that the writer wondered why more attention wasn’t given to this play.

[Martin Denton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Split Second offers a thought-provoking, incisive account of the effects of racism, fear, and societal pressure on a young African-American man. Val Johnson is a New York City cop who, near the end of a late-night shift, arrests a would-be car thief named William H. Willis. While waiting for a patrol car to pick him up, Johnson finds himself victimized by Willis, who is white: what starts out as genial but desperate bargaining soon turns into ugly, racist name-calling and climaxes in a barrage of calculatedly cruel epithets and crude jokes. Eventually, Johnson snaps and, fueled by a lifetime of dealing with Willis and people like him, he pulls out his gun and shoots the handcuffed Willis, point blank, right through the heart. All of this happens in the play's taut first scene; the remainder of the piece concerns Val's determination to justify his act to himself and to others. Val wrestles with the question of whether centuries of oppression can somehow validate an otherwise immoral act; his journey toward an answer (for certainly there is no simple or clear-cut resolution to Val's dilemma) makes for compelling theater indeed.

[Sivá Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know how this hasn’t been done more, especially in recent years. I like the logical v emotional debate here. Thought provoking.

[Ari · Rating 1 out of 5]

While the topic is relevant - the writing is dated and the portrayal of a Black cop is more than a little problematic.

I particularly take issue with Act II Sc. 5 and think that the play would be better without it.