[NEohioPAL] Review of "Free Man of Color" by Ensemble Theatre

[Bob Abelman]

Ensemble's 'Free Man of Color' opts for education not titillation

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the News-Herald 2/25/11

 

On stage on the Notre Dame College campus is the Ensemble Theatre's production of Charles Smith's Free Man of Color. 

 

Closing just last month at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York was a production of John Guare's A Free Man of Color.

 

Their titles are nearly identical and both plays are grounded in historical fact.  Both take place in the early-1800s.  Both address racial and political issues.

 

However, the former is a piece of educational theater while the latter is a piece of frivolous theater.  There's a huge difference-in form, function and, sadly, in appeal.

 

Free Man of Color, with a cast of 3 and a single, simple set, tells the real-life story of John Newton Templeton, a liberated slave who was brought to Ohio University to be its first black "student-servant" in 1824.  In exchange for an education, he was expected to return to Africa-six generations after his ancestors were taken-to serve as governor of Liberia, a country founded by American slave-owners and intended to be a repository for freed, free-thinking American slaves.

 

A Free Man of Color, with a cast of 32 and an enormous production budget, is a raucous comedy set in the boisterous New Orleans culture that existed just prior to the Louisiana Purchase.  It was a time when New Orleans was, according to the show's press release, "still a parade of beautiful women and good-looking men, flowing wine and pleasure for the taking." Its lead character, Jacques Cornet, is a preening bi-racial aristocrat who sleeps his way through the city.

 

Free Man of Color relentlessly explores and argues important topics including racial segregation, intellectual elitism, religious dogma, feminism and political cronyism.  

 

A Free Man of Color is a wild ride of a play with no depth and even less breadth.  It uses historical facts as disposable playthings and was called an "untidy" and "incoherent historical comedy" by the New York Times.  This is "a production that's got more style than substance," according to the New York Daily News. 

 

Free Man of Color is a wordy, weighty bio-drama.  And, thanks to superb direction by Tony Sias and a very talented cast, it is a thought-provoking and intriguing production.  

 

As university president Reverend Robert Wilson, Jeffrey Grover is interesting all the time and carries the weight of his words and his character's stern demeanor with an appealing grace.  He navigates his character's conflicting agenda of being both savior and segregationist with subtle ease. 

 

Diane Mull (who joined Grover on stage in a recent Lakeland Theater production of An Ideal Husband) portrays Wilson's wife, Jane, who is the play's most complicated and convoluted character.  She is a disparaging soul who both despises and admires Templeton, and both challenges and obeys her husband.  Mull handles all the drama and a boatload of dialogue like a pro.

 

Antuane Rogers as Templeton is a charmer and makes his character astoundingly accessible, even though the dialogue he is given does not seem to have been built for that purpose.  Rogers finds the human qualities behind the typically idealized bio-drama portrait of a hero.

 

All three players turn in fine performances that are surely worth seeing.  

 

Therein lays another key difference between these two shows.  

 

Free Man of Color-a smart, challenging and well performed piece of educational theater-will struggle to fill its small black box space at $20 a seat because it is smart and challenging.  

 

Despite its astounding frivolity and poor reviews, A Free Man of Color was a hot ticket at $115 a pop and regularly filled its 1,043 seat playhouse.  

 

Free Man of Color continues through February 27 at the Notre Dame College Performing Arts Center, 4545 College Road, South Euclid.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $20, call 216-321-2930.
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