|
DocuSign Envelope ID:A1391C8C-C731-4683-B498-D5B7783F86E4 __rolina Gem of the Ocean Rides High at the Carrboro ArtsCenter
<br /> tax
<br /> HOME ABOUT UPCOMING \ ' d t a BLOG HELP 1_) t ;�"I C'vIt` _;
<br /> CVNC EVENTS
<br /> Reviews Features Media Reviews Letters News ArticleSearch
<br /> t'IWA I RF ItF1'[LJV P1,Ii`i'C
<br /> Share
<br /> Gem of the Ocean Rides High at the Carrboro ArtsCenter
<br /> By Kate Dobbs Ariail
<br /> May 10,2014-Carrboro, NC:
<br /> Carrboro--(Fri.,May. 9, 2014-
<br /> Sun.,May. 18, 2014)
<br /> It's a daunting task to review a production as nearly perfect as the current ArtsCenter Stage presentation of August ArtsCenter Stage:Gem of the
<br /> Wilson's Gem of the Ocean.The play,although not the first written(it premiered in 2003)in Wilson's magnificent 10-play Ocean
<br /> Pittsburgh Cycle,begins the stories that cover African-American life in Pittsburgh's Hill District through the 10 decades of Ticket prices detailed below in
<br /> the 20th century.Several of its characters,including the ancient Aunt Ester,were bom in slavery,and the main concern 'Notes"--ArtsCenter,(919)929-
<br /> of the play is freedom—what it is and is not;how to get it, how to keep it; and how to"live and die in truth."As a piece 2787,ext.201,
<br /> of writing, it is beautiful almost beyond describing:robust, musical,rich in color and shading. Its cadences and repetitions httw1lartscenterlive.org/
<br /> build like those of the best jazz,spiraling around a motif with the hard glitter of change and the lush continuity of
<br /> remembrance.
<br /> It's a big play in every sense.Two full acts barely contain its life.Wilson(who received many awards for various parts of the full cycle, including two Pulitzers)is
<br /> so successful at working with big ideas and concerns because they are the natural concerns of his large-scaled and magnificently detailed characters,who live in
<br /> a world where metaphor and reality are not strangers,and where now includes all of the past.Their landscape is strewn with boulders;they are set about with
<br /> ambushes,and rivers of blood.It's a world in which a conjure woman can wash souls and cast out scoundrels from her house of peace and sanctuary at 1839
<br /> Wylie Avenue, Pittsburgh,PA. It's 1904—110 years ago by the calendar,but not too distant from 2014.
<br /> The ArtsCenter production is directed by John Rogers Harris. His timing of the dialogue and action is faultless,but more importantly, he lets love and tragedy fill
<br /> the room at their own pace. Harris has cast a powerful ensemble of actors as the seven characters,and Wilson's words pour forth as if from their own minds. No
<br /> one spouts speeches,or declaims,or breaks the fourth wall.We observe and empathize looking into a world of which we are not part. It is complete in itself.
<br /> Among the actors,first mention must go to Malcolm Green,called in very late in the process to play Eli(replacing Gil Faison,who had to withdraw due to a death
<br /> in his family),who is essentially Aunt Ester's gatekeeper. He is also building a wall,a stone wall(not a fence),around the house. Green is still an undergraduate
<br /> theatre major at NCCU, but here he's an old man,annealed in the fires of war and reconstruction. He was particularly moving as he told of his days conducting
<br /> on the Underground Railroad, along with Solly Two Kings.
<br /> Thomasi McDonald may have been bom to play Solly Two Kings. He was fantastic as the former slave who escaped to freedom in Canada,only to turn right
<br /> around and bring out others. His slave name was Uncle Alfred,but he named himself after two kings,David and Solomon,but someone promptly called him
<br /> Solly,so Solly Two Kings he became.Two Kings can't read,and he collects dogshit to sell as manure for a living,but his soul is large, and knows not
<br /> compromise.McDonald was in danger of running away with the show every time he opened his mouth—but the others were right there with him, raising the
<br /> acting to rising plateaus of greatness.
<br /> Gem of the Ocean begins with young Citizen Barlow, recently escaped from Alabama,beating on Aunt Ester's door,desperate to get his soul washed.Jade
<br /> Arnold,fresh from his triumphant portrayal of Mozart in Leviathan's production of Amadeus,nearly tore my heart out as Citizen. He's suffering because he killed
<br /> a man.He didn't mean to,didn't begin to foresee the effects of an action he took to even a personal score,an action that ultimately sets off riot,fire and more
<br /> killing.Aunt Ester takes him on a healing spiritual journey to the City of Bones and almost can't bring him back, because he has let go of the boat—a folded
<br /> paper boat she's given him—that links him to his ancestors and his history. He retrieves the boat just in time,and returns to the present with a context for all
<br /> his troubles.The struggles and emotions in this scene are very powerful.
<br /> Sherida McMullan beautifully portrayed Black Mary,who turned up at Aunt Ester's one day a few years back and is now a conjure woman in training,as well as
<br /> cook, laundress,and hostess in the house of peace. Her performance was nuanced,much being conveyed by expression and gesture, and her speaking was so
<br /> http://cvnc.orglarticle.cfm?articleld=6840 1/3
<br />
|