Clybourne Park
BY BRUCE NORRIS
FROM: MARCH 13
DIRECTED BY:
TANYA GOLDBERG
CAST INCLUDES:
PAULA ARUNDELL
THOMAS CAMPBELL
BRIALLEN CLARKE
NATHAN LOVEJOY
WENDY STREHLOW
RICHARD SYDENHAM
CLEAVE WILLIAMS
DESIGNER: TOBHIYAH STONE FELLER
LIGHTING DESIGNER: VERITY HAMPSON
SOUND DESIGNER: DARYL WALLIS
'honoring the connection'
Reviewed by Ben Oxley
With the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 2012 Tony Award for Best Play and Olivier Evening Standard Awards, it's helpful to backtrack to the play's prequel "A Raisin In The Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry. This serves as context to the shape of Clybourne Park, and the integrity of its structure.
A Raisin in the Sun portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. When the play opens, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000. The matriarch Mama puts a down payment on a house for the whole family. She believes that a bigger, brighter dwelling will help them all. This house is in fictitious Clybourne Park, an entirely white neighborhood of Chicago. When the Youngers’ future neighbors find out that the Youngers are moving in, they send Mr. Lindner, from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, to offer the Youngers money in return for staying away. The Youngers refuse the deal.
As we enter Clybourne Park, we have a handle on the tense racial and societal pretext, but not on the real 'elephant in the room'. What we discover is the ache of parents for loss, and an inability of those around them to listen to their problems. After all, this was post-war, politically genteel middle America.
The second act is a sequel in a sense, cleverly lifting the story to our time, capturing the progress or lack of social inclusion and dialogue. Nonetheless, the house is made over for the transition, and the staircase is as strong a silent player in the unfolding tale.
To get this to work as drama today it takes a fine cast, and we have strength in depth in every role. Paula Arundell, herself an award-winning actor, straddles the dual roles of Francine and Lena superbly. Both strong figures, and essential to play against Nathan Lovejoy's overbearing Karl and Steve. Around the room, Wendy Strehlow fastidious Bev and Richard Sydenham as Russ double speak their way through the fog of shared but singular grief.
Thomas Campbell gives Rev. Jim an unctuous touch, and brings poignancy at the end with his handling of Kenneth. Briallen Clarke did a believable job of deaf expectant mum (there's a stereotype) Betsy, and in turn expertly plays the placating Lindsey. The one compassionate figure comes from solid Cleave Williams, with Albert and Kevin both harried by willful women and more articulate men.
Tanya Goldberg extracts the gut-wrenching social text with the smartly satirical observations to create a careening train crash in Act One. The 'chorus interruptus' continues in Act Two, revisiting the history, explicitly unveiling the divide between cultures in the house.
Sets and costume made Clybourne very believable, and Tobhiyah Stone Feller deserves credit for creating the tone and taste. Verity Hampson's thoughtful lighting design led us through the tale, as did Daryl Wallis' evocative audio.
Cheers to all hands at Ensemble for a mighty success, and I left to discover what the capital of Morocco really was. What was the point?
BY BRUCE NORRIS
FROM: MARCH 13
DIRECTED BY:
TANYA GOLDBERG
CAST INCLUDES:
PAULA ARUNDELL
THOMAS CAMPBELL
BRIALLEN CLARKE
NATHAN LOVEJOY
WENDY STREHLOW
RICHARD SYDENHAM
CLEAVE WILLIAMS
DESIGNER: TOBHIYAH STONE FELLER
LIGHTING DESIGNER: VERITY HAMPSON
SOUND DESIGNER: DARYL WALLIS
'honoring the connection'
Reviewed by Ben Oxley
With the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 2012 Tony Award for Best Play and Olivier Evening Standard Awards, it's helpful to backtrack to the play's prequel "A Raisin In The Sun" by Lorraine Hansberry. This serves as context to the shape of Clybourne Park, and the integrity of its structure.
A Raisin in the Sun portrays a few weeks in the life of the Youngers, an African-American family living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. When the play opens, the Youngers are about to receive an insurance check for $10,000. The matriarch Mama puts a down payment on a house for the whole family. She believes that a bigger, brighter dwelling will help them all. This house is in fictitious Clybourne Park, an entirely white neighborhood of Chicago. When the Youngers’ future neighbors find out that the Youngers are moving in, they send Mr. Lindner, from the Clybourne Park Improvement Association, to offer the Youngers money in return for staying away. The Youngers refuse the deal.
As we enter Clybourne Park, we have a handle on the tense racial and societal pretext, but not on the real 'elephant in the room'. What we discover is the ache of parents for loss, and an inability of those around them to listen to their problems. After all, this was post-war, politically genteel middle America.
The second act is a sequel in a sense, cleverly lifting the story to our time, capturing the progress or lack of social inclusion and dialogue. Nonetheless, the house is made over for the transition, and the staircase is as strong a silent player in the unfolding tale.
To get this to work as drama today it takes a fine cast, and we have strength in depth in every role. Paula Arundell, herself an award-winning actor, straddles the dual roles of Francine and Lena superbly. Both strong figures, and essential to play against Nathan Lovejoy's overbearing Karl and Steve. Around the room, Wendy Strehlow fastidious Bev and Richard Sydenham as Russ double speak their way through the fog of shared but singular grief.
Thomas Campbell gives Rev. Jim an unctuous touch, and brings poignancy at the end with his handling of Kenneth. Briallen Clarke did a believable job of deaf expectant mum (there's a stereotype) Betsy, and in turn expertly plays the placating Lindsey. The one compassionate figure comes from solid Cleave Williams, with Albert and Kevin both harried by willful women and more articulate men.
Tanya Goldberg extracts the gut-wrenching social text with the smartly satirical observations to create a careening train crash in Act One. The 'chorus interruptus' continues in Act Two, revisiting the history, explicitly unveiling the divide between cultures in the house.
Sets and costume made Clybourne very believable, and Tobhiyah Stone Feller deserves credit for creating the tone and taste. Verity Hampson's thoughtful lighting design led us through the tale, as did Daryl Wallis' evocative audio.
Cheers to all hands at Ensemble for a mighty success, and I left to discover what the capital of Morocco really was. What was the point?
