“Having found his song, the song of self-sufficiency, fully
resurrected, cleansed and given breath, free from any encumbrance other than
the workings of his own heart and the bonds of the flesh, having accepted the
responsibility for his own presence in the world, he is free to soar above the
environs that weighed and pushed his spirit into terrifying contractions."
These, the last lines of Joe Turner’s
Come and Gone, August Wilson’s declaration through the character of Bynum
Walker (amazing Glynn Turman) shouting after Herald Loomis who has exploded
into his own at the close of the play reflect the theme of independence. Wilson addresses the emergence of the
down trodden black man from both the literal and metaphoric shackles that have held
him prisoner because of the misfortune of his social position. The poetry of the author and its expert
interpretation by director, Phylicia Reshad and her cast delivers well.
It’s 1911 Pittsburgh where Wilson sets the second play in
his Century Cycle. Echoes of
slavery are still abroad, though the Emancipation Proclamation was issued over
fifty years before. Black folks
are still under the oppressive thumb of white folks as they struggle for
equality. Joe Turner, the fabled brother of the governor of Tennessee, has a reputation for indiscriminately
swooping down on blacks and commandeering them on his chain gang. Herald Loomis (imposing John Douglas
Thompson) has been the
victim of Turner’s exploitation for seven long years.
At rise Seth Holly (powerful Keith
David) runs a boarding house with his exuberant wife, Bertha (Gorgeous Lillias
White who stops the show with Love and Laughter in the second act) in the Hill
District of Pittsburgh. Seth peers
out the back door at the mystical Bynum Walker as he performs his odd
religio-spiritual practices. Bynum
is a ‘binder’ who learned binding from his daddy. He has the ability to bind
together folks who desire to be bound. Cricket S. Myers’ blues oriented interstitial music binds the
scenes together as the hot August days roll by. John Iacovelli’s period set
allows Reshad to easily
paint stage pictures allowing the souls of the Wilson’s characters come to life.
Impressive performances by the two kids in the cast, Skye
Barrett as Zonnia Loomis and flirty little Nathaniel James Potvin as Reuben
Mercer reflect the desires of the adults in the story. Seeing young actors hold their own with
the language of the play is a pleasure.
Loomis’s strange behavior makes Mr. Holly uneasy, but the
two dollars rent for the week makes him acquiesce to Loomis (who is seeking his
wife and mother of daughter Zonnia).
Bertha soothes his ruffled feathers. Arrival of beautiful Mattie Campbell (January LaVoy)
immediately attracts the attention of the Holly’s friend, young Gabriel Brown
(Jeremy Furlow). Ruthorford Selig (the familiar face of Raynor Scheine) is the
only white man in the show: a sympathetic friend who buys pots and pans and
other metal things from Seth. The
steamy Molly Cunningham (vivacious Vivian Nixon), the kind of woman who really
needs no protection, vamps Herald, who, after years in isolation on the chain
gang no longer has the ability to touch.
Being out of touch may be another metaphor for the struggle of African
Americans in August Wilson’s canon.
At last Herald’s long lost wife, Martha Pentecost (petite
Erica Tazel), appears and in an amazing spiritual duel with Herald, builds to the fiery
climax.
As in other Wilson plays, characters wear their hearts on their
sleeves through the poetry of this prolific playwright who has come and gone
too soon.
JOE TURNER’S COME AND
GONE
By August Wilson
Opens May 8, 2013
Continues through June 9
Mark Taper Forum
Performance Days and Times:
• Tuesday through Friday at 8 p.m.
• Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
• Sunday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
• No performance on Mondays.
EXCEPTIONS: No public performances
May 21 – 24 (student matinees only.)
No 1 p.m. performance on Sunday, May
5.
Ticket Prices: $20 – $70 (Ticket prices are subject to change.)
Tickets are available:
• Online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org
• By calling Center Theatre Group
Audience Services at 213.628.2772
• In person at the Center Theatre
Group box office at the Music Center
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