TO TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY // A REVIEW OF "AN OCTOROON"
There are plays that force us to think, to relive ghosts of the past and confront them in a modern day light. There are plays that use subtle images to explain moments of pain and sorrow, leaving our looming imaginations to do the rest. Then there are plays that stike us in the head and heart over and over with imagery we cannot escape, making us both uncomfortable and unable to stop thinking about the subject matter. Others still want us to laugh, laugh at the misfortunes of our past as we confront the problems of our present and future. However, to do ALL of that in one evening, in one piece of work, is one mammoth project indeed. To teach us, to shock us, to make us laugh, and to create something we've never seen before, leaving little room for imagination and more room for tears. That is what playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has sought out to do with his reimagining of AN OCTOROON (first seen at Soho Rep last year and now by popular demand restaged in Brooklyn). To say the final product is "exhilarating" wouldn't quite give this play the height it so deserves.
**I will also note that this review may contain a few SPOILERS that I was unaware of when stepping into experience this piece of theatre. Should you feel the need not to read any of those, I truly understand. Bookmark this page, move on to www.TFANA.org and buy a ticket. After your viewing, return here and we'll discuss more. **
We begin the evening with Austin Smith portraying the playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (or BJJ in the program) and informing us of what we're about to see. He's an African American man who's therapist doesn't fully understand his pain, his creative problems. He shares them with us and tells us of the play The Octoroon, a play from 1859 written by the Irish playwright Dion Boucicault. He takes the plot of the play to begin his re-telling of the tale. Right away, he explains to the audience that white actors won't play these kinds of roles anymore (slave owners, maddening racist types) so he dons "white-face" and sets out to begin the story (the first of many moments your mouth will drop). A man watches him from afar, the original playwright Boucicault. After a brief battle of... a word... the set swiftly changes and they begin to tell their story. They realize they're short on actors, so BJJ will portray several roles as well Boucicault. He dons "red face" to portray the Native American character and his assistant (Ian Lassiter) dons Blackface to play two black central characters. I told you, your mouth WILL drop.
"An Octoroon," the term that is, refers to a woman who is one-eighth black, and is the term for the character of Zoe (Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812's luminous Amber Gray). She is played more straight forward, sincere, and powerfully of the times we are set in. The character of Dora (Mary Wiseman), a white woman out to get her man, is a wildly comic role, dizzying in her portrayal. Then there are the three black female house servants (Maechi Aharanwa, Pascale Armand and Danielle Davenport) whose vernacular leaps straight out of the modern day lexicon. They speak as if they live in 2015 but clearly are surrounded by a much more harrowing time. And then there's another man who appears on stage as a... famous animal that's too priceless to point out here. It's not the only time you'll see him on stage and each time he will throw you into hysterics.
The story tells, more or less (but considerably more), of Zoe the daughter of a slave and deceased plantation owner. The new plantation owner George (also played by Smith) loves Zoe and a mustache twirling villain of a man, M'Closkey (also Myers) also loves her. The play often stops to comment on itself, and how theatres in the 1800's would use sensationalism or tricks to force audiences into a frenzy so they would experience something they had never seen before. What playwright Jacobs-Jenkins, Director Sarah Benson, and the entire cast create here is a thrilling, utterly surprising production that shocks you into feeling, truly feeling, what people so long ago have gone through. The cast is incredible. Austin Smith is remarkable, truly remarkable, in the lead roles of BJJ, George, and M'Closky. He bounces with buoyancy and charm while digging the awful truths of our past. Ian Lassiter and Haynes Thigpen are also truly powerful (and often very funny) in each and every moment, and all three actors portray almost all of their character in a racially offensive makeup, forcing you to see race in a complete different way. Amber Gray is stunning as the lovely Zoe, and Mary Wiseman is rip-roaring hilarious as the rich white woman who wants her man at any cost. Rounding out this incredible cast, Maechi Aharanwa, Pascale Armand and Danielle Davenport will keep you laughing, sometimes uncomfortably, throughout the evening (sample dialogue: "I know we slaves and everything, but you are not your job..."). Accompanied by a tender and beautiful Cellist (Lester St. Louis) the evening propels into a nonstop thrilling ride, complete with a horrifying projection and a truly "breathtaking" experience in Act II. The ending may surround you in darkness, but when the lights come up, you will be awakened, having experienced "What Theatre CAN BE." I've truly never seen anything like An Octoroon and I don't know if I ever will again. Do whatever you can to get there before it closes on March 18th, not because you can, but because you need to.
MATEO'S GRADE: A+
Based on the play The Octoroon by Dion Bouciacult Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Directed by Sarah Benson. Starring: Austin Smith, Haynes Thigpen, Ian Lassiter, Maechi Aharanwa, Pascale Armand, Mary Wiseman, Amber Gray, Danielle Davenport. Now playing through March 15th at Polonsky Shakespeare Center (262 Ashland Place between Lafayette Ave & Fulton Street Brooklyn)
Final Thoughts: Remarkable and poetic, there is nothing like An Octoroon, or a way to describe how you'll feel after seeing it.
MATEO MORENO recently won a bet on who could hold their breath the longest underwater. He won the bet, having beat local loudmouth Jimmy "Thunderbird" Thomas with a record breaking "fourteen minutes." True, part of that time was him unconcious and the other part was him being revived, but he still counts it, and is now $20 richer. Take THAT Thunderbird! He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.