DOES BALDWIN AND BUCKLEY’S LEGENDARY DEBATE TRANSLATE TO THE STAGE?

By Madeleine Anderson ⭐⭐⭐ | Press Invite

In 1965, author and civil rights activist James Baldwin met conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. for a now-infamous debate on whether the American dream ‘is at the expense’ of Black people in America.

Combining footage from the Cambridge Union debate with re-enactments of the speeches, a new production at Wilton’s Music Hall brings fresh life to the question which rings eerily relevant for the America of 2026.

The performance sets itself an ambitious task: to restage one of the most charged intellectual confrontations of the twentieth century. While the production has moments of insight, it ultimately struggles to justify its own existence when measured against the power of the original event.

Arnell Powell plays Baldwin with assurance, delivering Baldwin’s arguments with a steady clarity. The confidence in Powell’s performance was especially noteworthy in his moments of silence, when reacting to Buckley’s speech. Through subtly raised eyebrows, a curving of the tip and almost undetectable sighs, he expresses a thinly-restrained frustration with assurance.

While Powell captures the moral gravity at the heart of Baldwin’s case, it is hard to separate the success of his performance with the original precision and power of Baldwin’s words.

Eric T. Miller, portraying Buckley, the prominent conservative author, founder of National Review, and figure often regarded as the father of the modern conservative movement in America, is less convincing.

While Miller conveys Buckley’s patrician contempt with some success, his overall presence feels oddly lethargic (although this could be an accurate portrayal of Buckley’s arrogance) and the imbalance between the two performances blunts the dramatic tension that should animate their exchange.

Again, the most engaging moments of the evening come when excerpts from the original televised debate are shown. These recordings are markedly more lively than the stage re-enactment, and leaves the audience asking why this debate was staged at all, rather than simply re-screening the original film.

With stronger performances and a more imaginative production, more might have been drawn from the re-telling. As it stands, the re-enactment offers less than the source material it seeks to honour.

Debate: Baldwin Vs Buckley was performed at Wilton’s Music Hall from 2 to 7 February 2026. 

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Photo Credit: The American Vicarious