Published in The News Tribune, Oct. 10, 2014
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| Left o right: Lavon Hardison, Jason Haws, Phillip Keiman, Nikki Visel and Mark Alford |
In the history of theater, only two plays have won the triple
crown of theatrical awards – the Pulitzer, the Tony and the Lawrence Olivier.
They are Glengarry Glen Ross, which will be performed by Lakewood Playhouse
this season,” and Clybourne Park, now playing at Harlequin Productions in
Olympia.
“Clybourne Park” is not a sequel but a spinoff from A
Raisin in the Sun. It begins when “Raisin” ended in 1959. Bev and Dan (Nikki
Visel and Phillip Keiman) have sold their home in Chicago to a black family
(the Younger family from “Raisin,” although they are not named). A priest,
(Mark Alford) comes calling, as do their neighbors Karl Lindner (Jason Haws)
and his deaf and pregnant wife, Betsy (Maggie Lofquist) – Karl is from the
neighborhood association which is trying to prevent the sale to a black family
from going through, and has just come from an unsuccessful meeting with the
buyers. Karl is the only carryover character from “Raisin.”
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| From left: Jason Haws, Maggie Lofquist and Nikki Visel |
Bev and Dan were not even aware that the new owners are
black, nor do they mind. The discussions that ensue are dramatic, frightening
and yet hilarious as they both expose and make fun of racial and other societal
stereotypes of the 1950s. Things get even sticker when the black maid, Francine
(LaVon Hardison) and her husband, Albert (Robert Humes) get drawn into their
arguments.
The audience is not granted the indulgence of thinking that
we are far beyond such bigotry today because the second act is set half a
century later in 2009 and the ensuing arguments prove that the so-called post-racial
society hailed by some following the election of Barack Obama is skin deep if
it exists at all. In the second act we find ourselves in the same house with a
different set of characters, some of whom are related to characters from the
first act, and we see that the racial tensions have not disappeared at all. In
place of Bev, who was something of an Edith Bunker type in act one, always
trying to appease and be open minded, we have Kathy (Visel), a haughty and
‘politically correct’ white woman whose correctness falls apart under scrutiny.
In place of Francine, the black maid who is troubled but solicitous in act one,
we have Lena (Hardison), a strong black woman who will not kowtow to anyone. Tensions
mount as the white couple prepares to move into the neighborhood, which over
the years has become a black community.
Among the more ingenious strokes of playwright Bruce Norris
is that act two does not so much follow act one as it parallels act one with similar
yet different conversations. For example, act one begins with Dan and Bev
hilariously arguing over what people from different cities are called, for
example, Neapolitans for people from Naples. The second act begins with similar
arguments, this time about the names of capital cities. The parallelism of
these arguments echoes the parallelism of today’s racial and social strife and
that of 50 years ago.
Harlequin bills the play as a comedy, and it is bitingly
funny. Political correctness is put to the test and fails miserably, not
because political correctness is not a good thing but because nearly every one
of these characters is a miserable human being. They are insensitive and
tactless. They pretend to be open minded but are not good at hiding their prejudices.
What little remains of the masks of decency they wear is stripped away as the
second act deteriorates into flinging offensive jokes at one another. The jokes
are not only racially offensive, they are also homophobic and misogynistic, and
the rejoinders are funnier than the jokes. The playwright does an admirable job
of balancing between laughing at and laughing with the characters as he exposes
character flaw after character flaw.
The ensemble cast is as strong as any I’ve seen. Each actor
does a commendable job of believably embodying totally different characters in
the second act. Haws proves once again that he is one of the South Sound’s best
actors; Lofquist makes deafness uncomfortably yet delightfully funny;
Hardison’s metamorphosis from Francine to Lena is astounding; Keiman, a
newcomer from Britain, is solid as the gruff and inflexible Dan and funny as
Russ, the hired hand. Similar praise is due to Visel, Alford and Humes.
The period costumes by Jocelyne Fowler are spot-on, and she
has strategically placed Velcro on some of the costumes to allow for
astonishingly fast costume changes.
Linda Whitney has done her usual excellent job of set
designing, and the rapid change in the set between acts is made possible by
some brilliant engineering by Marko Bujeaud.
Seldom do all of the many elements of good theater come
together so completely as in this production. It is no wonder that Clybourne Park made the grand sweep of top theatrical prizes.
WHEN:
Thursdays through Saturdays, 8p.m., Sundays 2 p.m. through Oct. 25
WHERE:
State Theater, 202 E. 4th Ave., Olympia
TICKETS:
prices vary, call for details
INFORMATION:
360-786-0151; http://www.harlequinproductions.org/
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