Red Velvet
Lolita Chakrabarti
The Cast of "Red Velvet" |
A play a decade in the writing about a story of a
Shakespeare actor nine score years in the telling bursts onto the stage with
fever, fervor, and fury that the Bard himself would surely admire. That this classical actor is a black
American, son of a straw-farming preacher and a floor-scrubbing mother, who has
immigrated to England in the 1820s to pursue a career that lands him on the
famed Coventry Gardens stage is intriguing enough to perk interest. But that he becomes the first black actor
ever to appear on a London stage at a time when riots are occurring in the
streets due to the recent abolition of slavery and further that he does so as
the Moor Othello who kills his white wife Desdemona is more than enough to
imagine a play packed with historical importance, gripping theatrics, and one
man’s bravery. With direction, staging,
and a cast that excel in every dimension, San Francisco Playhouse presents the
West Coast premiere of award-winning actress and writer Lolita Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet, a play with several plays
within the play, all of them worthy of much notice.
Carl Lumbly as Ira Aldridge |
The main storyline is a set of two plays -- a bookending one
about the aging, ailing Ira Aldridge preparing for what will be his sunset role
as King Lear in Lodz, Poland in 1867 and a middle one that occurs in his memory
bank about the time he played Othello almost thirty-five years earlier. Carl Lumbly is nothing short of astounding in
the role of the actor Aldridge as he towers above all around him in stature,
dignity, and confidence. As he is about
to ready himself for Lear, he tolerates with some smirks the pressing,
popcorn-speed questions of a young Polish reporter, Halina (Elena Wright), who
is incessant in probing about a past he clearly is reluctant to recall (at
least out loud).
But remember he does; and we now find ourselves backstage in
a rehearsal hall of 1833’s Coventry Garden where a group of actors are
surmising all the ‘bump ups’ that will occur among them since their famed
Othello lead, Edmund Kean, has fallen ill.
Eleana Wright has magically transformed in barely an eye flash from
Polish journalist to now a young English actress, Betty Lovell. She is joined by old and cantankerously raspy
Bernard Warde (another quick change, this time by Richard Louis James from the
elder butler of 1867 Aldridge); the absolutely elegant in billowing, purple
gown actress Ellen Tree (Susi Damilano); and a young perky, pleasant actor
Henry Forester (Devin O’Brien whom we earlier saw as a German-speaking-only
houseboy of 1867 Aldridge). The son of
the failing Edmund Kean, Charles (Tim Kniffin), is there, too, who is sure,
along with everyone else, that the role of Othello is now his inherited right. But their French director, Pierre LaPorte,
arrives bustling about in all directions announcing in an ever-so-coy, even
mischievous manner that he has found an acclaimed actor from the countryside to
play the Moor. When he says the name “Ira Aldridge,” several note
they in fact have read his positive notices while the now-wide-eyed and
slightly chuckling Henry admits he has actually seen Mr. Aldridge act.
Susi Damilano as Ellen Tree |
The immediate, miffed reactions that Charles emits when he
hears that he will not be Othello are miniscule to the series of unbelieving and
uneasy smiles, full-mouthed gapes, and stunned stares Mr. Kniffen shows when
the lead-actor-to-be walks elegantly in -- the very black Ira Aldridge. Charles’ indignation will only grow as
rehearsals commence, erupting eventually into an anger outburst and visceral
scream of disgust that sends shockwaves deep into our audience. Too much it is for him when the just-arrived,
truly handsome, dark-skinned actor actually touches and then kisses the ivory
hand of his fiancé, the leading lady Ellen, playing Desdemona to Aldridge’s
Othello.
Charles’ reaction is echoed, if not by immediate intensity,
then by under-breath remarks of the elder stage statesman, Bernard, who will
later snidely remark, “An African (with flat nose and fat lips) is no more
competent to play Othello ... than a fat
man is Falstaff.” Much more accepting,
after some initial discomfort, is Ellen Tree, who quickly warms up to her role
opposite this anomaly as the two block out several scenes to the still-stunned
looks of the others.
They fall into a fascinating pattern of suggesting and
accepting acting tips that reflect the transformation that stage acting was
undergoing at the time. Theatre was moving
from stilted, face-the-audience-only manners of spouting lines as if giving a
speech (known as teapot acting due to the tendency to stand with one arm
extended and one bent at the hip) into more natural, face-each-other acting, with
emotions that appeared genuine and not over-played. To the increasing delight of Ellen and Henry
and to the scornful humphs of Bernard and Charles, this intruding, black
neophyte is the one now telling these accomplished stars how to act in these
new modes.
One of the stellar aspects of Margo Hall’s many inspired
directorial decisions is the silent, background actors who are continuously
noting in expression and stance their reactions of what is happening in the
stage’s foreground. Chief among these is
Britney Frazier as a young, black maid who mostly sits at a back-corner tea
service table and whose eye shifts, head jerks, and slight movements of hands
are an ongoing panorama of activity well worth full attention.
What happens after the Convent Garden play’s debut and with
the budding friendship and mutual admiration between the two leads should be
seen and not recounted here. Needless to
say, history shows that the actual, critical reactions of this Othello were in
1833 just as viscous and vitriol as what we might expect would have been
written in the 1850s (or 1950s) of the Southern USA. Unfortunately, more than once during the
hate-filled blasts on this 1833 stage does it seem quite possible to imagine
almost the same exchanges could now occur in far too many modern living rooms
or bars about the threats of transgender-, Muslim-, or Mexican-American citizens
of the U.S.
Within this captivating story, there is a wonderful
commentary and debate among these actors about the world of theater itself -- a
world whose rows of seats are alluded to by the very title of the play itself. The undercurrent threads about theatre are as
applicable today as in the nineteenth century.
Is the role of theatre to be where people come with the intention of
“getting away from reality” (as Charles advocates), or is it to prompt within
them the desire to “change” and “progression” as young Henry argues? Should actors push boldly with new techniques
and messages, as Ira Aldridge wants, or listen to the more cautious advice of
Pierre, knowing, “This audience is older ... They will accept if we tread
carefully ... softly.” (The latter
comment caused quite a tittering among our older-leaning audience.) The actor-audience relationship is vividly
captured by an intense Ira when he says in hushed tone, “You give all you can
give ... Exposed ... And then you look out there at all those faces.” As an actor, he notes to the young Polish
journalist, “This is what I do ... and I always do it alone!”
Even donors and critics get their due in this underlying
play within the grander play. Ira smirks
to Ellen, “Unfortunately, money does not guarantee character” (with more laughs
coming from the Opening Night’s, producing donor attendees). Of journalists
(and thus critics), the elder Ira snaps at the young Polish reporter, “You
exist because I do ... Without me, you’d be less than you already are ... You
are artless” (at which time, this reviewer and several around me shifted with
sheepish looks in our seats).
Carl Lumbly and Susi Damilano as Othello and Desdemona |
The final play within the play occurs at the end of Act One
as Carl Lumbly and Susi Damilano bring each audience member to seat’s edge as
they recreate the scene in Othello
where the King confronts his young Queen about the missing handkerchief he has
given her, all the while she insists he go see Casio, whom he is sure she now
loves instead of him. Within the blink
of an eye, these two veteran actors convince us we are actually at SF Playhouse
to watch a stellar performance of one of Shakespeare’s finest. The acuteness of their acting grabs and holds
our admiring attention; and when suddenly the act of our play ends in the middle
of their simulated act, more than just I want them to continue the rest of Othello before retuning to Red Velvet.
Gary English creates through his set and projection design a
massive and majestic space that does the Coventry and nineteenth, theatrical England
full justice. He is enabled completely
by the beautiful lighting and both subtle and soaring sound effects of Kurt
Landisman and Theodore J.H. Hulsker, respectively. And there cannot be enough kudos showered on
Abra Berman for costumes that are visually and historically superb.
So many reasons exist to rush for tickets for this
exceptional evening of history on stage:
intelligent and imaginative direction, a cast that could hardly be
better suited for their roles, and a production that sparkles in all
respects. San Francisco Playhouse
continues to be the City’s most trusted venue for consistently high-quality
theatre; and the current Red Velvet
is no exception.
Rating: 5 E
Red Velvet
continues through June 25, 2016 at San
Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post Street, San Francisco. Tickets are available at http://sfplayhouse.org/
or by calling 415-677.9596.
Photos by Ken Levin
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