Friday February 16, 2007 SGN.org |
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Volume 35 Issue 07 |
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Friday, Jan 09, 2009
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Multi-level play speaks to the African and African-American Experience, yesteryear and now |
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| Multi-level play speaks to the African and African-American Experience, yesteryear and now | ||
| Multi-level play speaks to the African and African-American Experience, yesteryear and now
by Rajkhet Dirzhud-Rashid -
SGN A&E Writer The Blue Door Directed by Leigh Silverman Starring Reg E. Cathey and Hubert Point Du-Jour Seattle Repertory Theatre February 1-March 4th Using the traditional African 'call and response' , as well as storytelling technique, playwright Tanya Barfield's 'The Blue Door' touches its audience deeply, relating one Black man's story of trying to find his identity. His wife, who is white, doesn't understand him, or so he believes and continues to push her away until in frustration with him for not joining in the 'Million Man March', she leaves him. He feels at odds with the outer, educated self he portrays to the world around him as a mathematics professor, and the 'past lives' of his ancestors, some of whom were slaves. These figures from his past come to haunt him, taunting him deliberately, and demanding space in his head as he tries to find peace on one insomniac night. The professor, played adeptly by veteran actor Reg E. Cahey at first battles his 'other selves', refusing to hear parts of 'his story' that he doesn't want to know about (including a night his father brutally beat him for not being successful enough in school). But the 'ghosts' (all played with sparkling clarity by young actor Hubert Point Du-Jour) will not leave him alone. They insist on being heard, insist that he include them in his story, as it plays out in his head as memories while he is unable to sleep. Ultimately, the mythology of painting a door blue ('the blue door'), and what it means, where it came from, as well as his own deeper history -- some painful to hear -- becomes the device which frees him to himself. As he welcomes his slave ancestor (duJour), repeating the African phrases the ancestor shows/tells him, he weeps in relief and understanding, and the audience is given hope through this broken man. A surprising and complex play, the two actors are able to make one believe in all of the other 'shadow characters' who take to the stage at different points in the production and Narelle Sissons' spare, elegant set serves as perfect backdrop. This is one play you'll remember long after you walk away. 'The Blue Door' is a must see and a perfect opening for The Rep's 2007 season. |
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