Friday November 10, 2006 SGN.org |
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Volume 34 Issue 45 |
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Sunday, Oct 12, 2008
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| Native Son plucks at the very roots of the legacy left by slavery | |
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| by Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid -
SGN A&E Writer Native Son Directed by Kent Gash Starring: Earl Alexander, Kimberly King, Carl Roscoe, Chic Street Man Ato Essandoh, Ricard Kline, Lukas Shadair, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Ken Grantham Felicia V. Loud, MJ Sieber Intiman Playhouse October 20-November 18 Hopefully if you go and see the newest adaptation of Richard Wright's seminal book about racism in the USA, you won't sit in front of 'the horribles'. This is the nickname I gave to the two folks who sat behind me at opening night and chattered (honey, in a quiet theatre, a whisper sounds like construction noise at 6 a.m. -- what I wanted to say to the 'her' in the group), through the whole play. Then, to add insult to injury, a couple of them -- I think the noisiest female of the group -- whimpered 'crocodile tears' at one particularly harrowing moment toward the end. Then, it was the whispering and chattering again. To their credit -- if there's any to be given these sillies -- the play was unsettling on many levels. All of that out of my system, I can say that the play version of the book my mom read in college is a powerful, seamless piece of work, presented by a more than capable ensemble cast. Ato Essandoh as 'Bigger', the tragic protagonist in 'Native Son' is first presented to the audience naked, singing, as if he is back in Africa, in a much less complicated world than the one he lives in. And paired with Felicia V. Loud as Bigger's long-suffering and beaten down girlfriend, 'Vera', the play crackles and hisses, daring the audience to make any assumptions about their own views on racial relations, even those between members of the same race and class. Set in the '30's, at a time when Blacks were struggling even in Northern cities like Chicago, this 'Native Son' moves forward with a pre-ordained sense of doom, getting us ready for the inevitable ending. From the moment 'Bigger' goes to work for the Daltons, a wealthy white family, and meets wild, impetuous Mary Dalton ( Carol Roscoe), the audience knows young 'Bigger's' fate is sealed and that his own inner demons, as well as the illusion put forth that he has 'rights' by Mary and her pal, Jan (MJ Sieber), will be his undoing. But, even as events unfold that sentence 'Bigger' to a wretched fate, we, the audience, are still wanting to believe in hope; hope for this young man, for all Black men. But mostly, the audience is pulled in and made culpable along with the 'good guys' and 'bad guys' in the play, both of which have gray areas, as does 'Bigger'. I left thinking that the reason this play is so powerful, still, is that it plucks at the very roots of the legacy between Black and whites left over from slavery, and that most people are still in denial about their role in this system of oppression. And I couldn't help but wonder if that was the reason 'the horribles' and other white audience members fiddled with watches, chatted, or avoided discussion with some Black audience members after the show. A telling and disappointing situation, and one that shows there's so much work to be done, if anything is going to change and more 'Bigger's' don't suffer the fate of the young man in the play. Go see this unnerving, but worthy show, and again, hopefully there'll be no 'horribles' sitting anywhere near you, so you can get the full impact of Wright's still timely message. For ticket information, call 206-269-1900 or visit, www.intiman.org. |
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