Ashland (part five)

Fences

The two plays I was most anxious to see on this trip to Ashland were Coriolanus and Fences. I was not disappointed by either one, even though I ended up being even more excited by two other productions I had not expected to enjoy as much -- Midsummer's Night Dream and The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler. Isn't that often the case? That's not to say that I was in any way disappointed with either Coriolanus or Fences (see my rave review of the former below).

Although Judy and I were of course familiar with the name of August Wilson, and had heard of several of his plays, neither of us had ever seen one until we saw Gem of the Ocean at last year's Ashland Festival. For those who aren't familiar with these works, it is essential to know that August Wilson's central canon consists of a cycle of ten plays chronicling the 20th century African-American experience, one play for each decade of the century. These plays were not written in chronological order. Thus, Gem of the Ocean, which begins the cycle in 1904, was written after Fences, a comparatively early play in Wilson's oeuvre that is itself set in the 1950's with a postscript taking place about ten years later in the mid-60's.

Gem of the Ocean tells the story of Aunt Esther, a seemingly ageless African-American matriarch who represents the last generation to have experienced slavery before the Civil War, and her deep influence on and nurturning of the younger people around her. We were so intensely moved by Gem that we were anxious to see another part of Wilson's cycle.

We were not disappointed. Fences is the story of one man's struggle to come to grips with the bitterness and disappointment of failing to break out of the segregated Negro Baseball League and into the newly integrated Major Leagues at the time Jackie Robinson became the first African-American baseball player to do so. Troy takes out his frustration and anger at his perceived "failure" on his son Cory, by forbidding him from pursuing his great talent for football with a college scholarship. Cory, who longs to emulate his father, is ultimately alienated by Troy's harsh treatment. Troy's desperate attempts to validate his manhood also damage his marriage, although his long-suffering wife Rose sticks with him to the end.

The Ashland Festival has a history of presenting the cycle of August Wilson's plays in excellent productions with the very finest actors available. In that tradition, every single role in this production was superbly filled. Charles Robinson was of course the standout in the central role, but he was perfectly matched by Shona Tucker as Rose, Cameron Knight as Cory, Kevin Kenerly as Troy's other son Lyons, and Josiah Phillips as Troy's close friend Jim. Special mention must be made of Ashland stalwart G. Valmont Thomas in the role of Gabriel, Troy's mentally disabled brother. Thomas was so convincing in this poignant role that I totally forgot that he was the same actor I had seen a couple of years ago perform the role of Falstaff so magnificently in Merry Wives of Windsor. It is hard for me to imagine two roles more dissimilar. Yet Thomas was Gabriel as fully and convincingly as he had been Falstaff. No small feat indeed.

Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter

Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter was the first play on our menu when we arrived at Ashland on Thursday May 15 after our five hour drive from the Bay Area. Perhaps because we saw it on evening of our first day after an all-day drive, we were not in quite the right frame of mind to fully appreciate it. Whatever the reason, although we did not dislike the play at all, it did not move or excite us in the way the other productions did. However, as time has passed since we saw it, I have come to realize that this particular play unfolds its beauties slowly and quietly, in much the way the action of the play proceeds.

Jenny Sutter is about a wounded soldier returning home from the Iraq war, and her readjustment to civilian life as she grapples with living with a prosthetic leg. Her story unfolds in the context of her odyssey through the greyhound bus system and takes her to Slab City in the Anza-Borrego desert, the world's largest seasonal encampment of squatters, hobos and transient free spirits. The play proceeds in a seemingly meandering, aleatory manner, as Jenny encounters and responds first to ordinary civilians oblivious to the reality of a war they have largely forgotten, and later to the eccentric characters who inhabit Slab City. Because they share with Jenny the status of social outsiders, the latter free spirits turn out to be more empathetic and ultimately helpful to her in her struggle to adjust to returning home. Interestingly, the play makes no overt political statement about the Iraq war, resolutely focusing instead on the individual human damage inflicted on those who signed up to fight it in good faith and now must pay a highly personal price for that decision.

Because of the ensemble nature of casting at the Ashland Festival, most of the people we saw performing in Jenny Sutter also appeared in key roles in one or more of the other plays we saw. In the title role, Gwendolyn Mulamba was excellent, even though her many talents were shown to better effect in The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler (in which she played a score of roles, some of which required her to sing and dance in styles ranging from 20's rag to Italian Grand Opera). The other standout in Jenny Sutter was Kate Mulligan (who, like Mulamba, had several supporting roles in Further Adventures of H.G.). Mulligan, an amazingly energetic and versatile performer, was quite funny and moving as Lou, the eccentric vagabond who befriends Jenny at a Greyhound bus station and takes her to Slab City.

This production of Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter is being taken to Washington D.C. for performances at the Kennedy Center this summer.