[NEohioPAL]Berko review: THE PIANO LESSON (CPH)

[Roy Berko]

‘THE PIANO LESSON’--AN EXAMINATION OF THE AFRICAN
AMERICAN ADVENTURE

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--
LORAIN COUNTY TIMES--WESTLAKER TIMES--LAKEWOOD NEWS
TIMES--OLMSTED-FAIRVIEW TIMES

Playwright August Wilson thinks that African Americans
have not been fairly represented by White culture
writers and historians.  To counter this, Wilson has
set out to create a series of works which examine the
lives of Africans who were brought to this country,
often against their will, and enslaved.  He develops
his messages by using cultural patterns such as story
telling and music, with references to history,
religion and superstition.    ‘THE PIANO LESSON,’ now
on stage at The Cleveland Play House, is the fourth in
Wilson’s 20th century decade-by-decade chronicle.

The story centers around a piano that sits in the
parlor of the Pittsburgh home of Doaker Charles and
his niece, Berniece.  The years is 1936, but the piano
serves as a persistent reminder of the ancestral
memory of the home’s inhabitants.  Carved on the legs
and front of the piano, as described in Wilson’s stage
directions, are “mask-like figures resembling
totems...in the manner of African sculpture...rendered
with a grace and power of invention that lifts them
out of realm of craftsmanship and into the realm of
art.”  These figures, created by Berniece’s
great-grandfather, tell the history of the family
through the long years from slavery to emancipation.

For Berniece, the piano evokes memories and emotions. 
Her mother used to make her play the piano every day,
an obligation Berniece accepted because she was
convinced its carved figures had the ability to come
alive and walk around at night, to create ghosts and
memories too fearful to confront.  When her mother
died, Berniece “shut the top of that piano...and ain’t
never opened it again.”  Out of respect for the
generations of ancestors enshrined in its tableaux,
she’d never dream of allowing the instrument to leave
her parlor.

Berniece’s brother, Bob Willie, shares none of his
sister’s attachment to the instrument.  He views the
piano as a commodity to be sold and the money used to
purchase the land of the former owner of their slave
ancestors.  He believes that getting rid of the piano
and claiming the land will purge the ghosts from the
entire family.

Ghosts, both literally and figuratively, hover over
the happenings.  The works itself sits at the
intersection of realism and metaphor.  Are the ghosts
real?  Is the storm near the play’s conclusion the
exorcism of the actual spirits or the end of the
family’s obsession with the horrors of the past?

Is ‘THE PIANO LESSON’ a great script?  In spite of its
awards, reviewers generally agree that it is not a
masterpiece.  It is repetitious, imperfectly resolved,
and as often is the case with Wilson, much too long. 
What it does have going for it are also Wilson’s
trademarks:  the rhythms of black speech, the essence
of the culturally uprooted, the legacy of slavery, and
the knowing message of what it is like to be at the
bottom rung of the American way of life.

The CPH production, under the able direction of Chuck
Patterson, develops Wilson’s intent.  In spite of
excellent performances, they cannot, however,
completely overcome the excessive length, abstraction
and talkiness of the script.

Wiley Moore (Doaker) stands proud as a Black man who
has meet the system and taken it on as a hard working
productive member of society.  Moore adds just the
right inner strength to the role.  Albert Jones
doesn’t consistently smolder as Boy Willie, though he
has periods of brilliance.  Marlon Morrison, as
Willie’s naive country boy friend Lymon, is wonderful.
 He is simple, without being a simpleton.  Linda
Powell’s Berneice sometimes lacks the texturing
necessary to make her character a totally real person.
 Sierra Heard as Berneice’s daughter, Kim Sullivan as
the preacher, Doug Jewell as Doaker’s brother and
Colleen Longshaw as the women who Boy Willie and Lymon
hook up with, are all quite good in their
performances.

Felix Cochren’s set is outstanding.  It is not only
era perfect and visually attractive, but gives the
actors an efficient place in which to perform.  Myrna
Colley-Lee’s costume designs are wonderful.  William
H. Grant III adds much to the production through his
lighting.

CAPSULE JUDGMENT:  August Wilson is an important
African American playwright.  ‘THE PIANO LESSON’ is
another of his plays that helps give a picture of the
African American experience.  Though a flawed script,
the CPH production is worth seeing for no other reason
than it is an important piece in the puzzle of
defining an important racial component of the American
story.

For tickets to ‘THE PIANO LESSON,’ which runs through
February 27 in the Bolton Theatre of the Cleveland
Play House call 216-795-7000 or go on-line to
www.clevelandplayhouse.com. 



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Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.


		
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