[NEohioPAL] Review of Cleveland Play House's "The Whipping Man"

[Bob Abelman]

Cleveland Play House's 'The Whipping Man' strikes hard and true

 

Bob Abelman

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

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 11/16/12

 

 

Baruch atah adonai eloheinu melech haolam mechaye hametim.

 

This Hebrew blessing for the revival of the dead is the first of many unexpected moments in Matthew Lopez's gripping "The Whipping Man."

 

It is spoken in the opening scene of the play, just moments after a thunder clap transports the audience to just days after Lee's surrender to Grant in 1865.  It is spoken by a newly freed slave in a once grand home in decimated Richmond, Virginia upon the late-night arrival of an injured Confederate officer who used to be his master.

 

A Jewish Rebel soldier.  A Jewish slave.  Clearly, this is no ordinary civil war saga.  And, as staged by the Cleveland Play House under the lucid direction of Giovanna Sardelli-who also directed the west coast premiere of this play in 2010-this is no ordinary production.  

 

Badly wounded, Caleb DeLeon (Shawn Fagan) returns home from war to find his house in shambles, his family missing, and only two former slaves-Simon and John-remaining.  Simon (Russell G. Jones), a grounded and righteous man in his 50s, stays out of loyalty and with the promise of payment from Caleb's father upon his return.  John (Avery Glymph), an impulsive young ne're-do-well, has plenty of notions but nowhere else to go.  

 

This awkward reunion occurs on Passover, a Jewish holiday that commemorates the release of the Israelites from bondage in ancient Egypt.  As the three men wait for the family to return, they wrestle with their shared past and the revelations that surface, discuss an uncertain future, and celebrate the holiday with a traditional feast comprised of stolen goods and make-shift stand-ins for the ceremonial meal. 

 

It is during this Seder ritual that the underlying premise of this very thought-provoking play is made abundantly clear: the emancipation of Blacks in the war-weary South is not unlike the Jewish exodus from Egypt.  

 

"This year we are slaves," recites Simon from the Jewish prayer book with the jubilation of a tent show revivalist, "and next year we may be free."  Hebrew flows with the cadence of an old Black spiritual and the four questions asked and answered during the Passover meal-the symbolic challenging of authority by those Jews afforded no independent will and no opinion under slavery-bears resemblance to an African-American call and response. 

 

In lesser hands, this rather contrived tale of redemption could easily be melodramatic, pedantic, and cloying.  It is none of those things. It is, instead, intriguing from start to finish due largely to the efforts of the production team and the three performers.

 

Scenic designer Robert Mark Morgan and lighting designer Japhy Weideman allow the play's bare bones to show by providing little more than dramatic ambiance and accent for this production.  The intimate Second Stage theater remains a barren space-a hollowed out Southern homestead void of art, artifact or history with only a stained and scarred wooden floor to support it.  We see and hear the steady rain through a burned and bombed façade and the only light that illuminates the inhabitants seems to come from candles, the low-burning fireplace, and occasional strikes of lightening.  

 

As a result, all of our attention is effectively aimed at the actors.  

 

Each of them offers brutal honesty and raw emotion with astounding eloquence and through a well-defined and thoroughly lived-in character.  So rich and complex are their portrayals that they even-out the playwright's intermittent impulses for dramatics and take his poignant, yet occasionally incongruous dialogue and make it their own without missing a beat.

 

And, like the handiwork of the title character-an unseen entity whose profound omnipotence is felt throughout the play-each verbal strike hits hard and hits true.  

 

This is a captivating play and a remarkable production of it.

 

"The Whipping Man" continues through December 2 in Cleveland Play House's Second Stage Theatre at PlayhouseSquare.  For tickets, which range from $15 to $69, call 216-241-6000 or visit www.clevelandplayhouse.com.   
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