In the Red and Brown Water
The McCarter Theater of Princeton has always done well to represent African-American voices in theater, and this season they are presenting three new plays, in repertory, by a young black playwright, Tarell Alvin McCraney. I saw one of the plays last night, and next month will see the other two (which are one-acts).
The feature-length play is In the Red and Brown Water, and it almost hurts me to say that I was profoundly unmoved. It hurts because the cast and direction were top-notch, and there is a lot of effort on view. But as the play moved along, I was almost completely uninterested in what was unfolding. The trappings of the play overwhelmed the story, which was weak.
Set in the Bayou country of Louisiana, In the Red and Brown Water focuses on Oya, a young woman who has a run of bad luck. In the first few minutes her mother dies, after she has turned down a scholarship to the State University (she's a track star). Then she has a troublesome relationship with a macho guy, who ultimately leaves her to join the Army, and she settles into a comfortable but passionless affair with a nice guy who stutters (but he stops when he talks to her). Through all of this Oya can not conceive a child, which seems to trouble the whole community.
There may be more that I missed--the Creole accents are pretty strong and I didn't hear everything. Aside from that, though, the cast is energetic and appealing, particularly Kianne Muschett as Oya. The play has a lot of musicality, and has clear connections to the traditions of the black church.
McCraney, as a playwright, shows promise, as his prose is very lyrical, but he has to shake some beginner's clumsiness. For one thing, he has his characters stating their stage directions, which at times gets some laughs, but more often seems an indulgent affectation. And I just couldn't get into the story. When, at the climax, Oya pulls a stunt worthy of Van Gogh, it seems to come out of nowhere.
Look back here next month to see how I like the second half of this repertory program.
The feature-length play is In the Red and Brown Water, and it almost hurts me to say that I was profoundly unmoved. It hurts because the cast and direction were top-notch, and there is a lot of effort on view. But as the play moved along, I was almost completely uninterested in what was unfolding. The trappings of the play overwhelmed the story, which was weak.
Set in the Bayou country of Louisiana, In the Red and Brown Water focuses on Oya, a young woman who has a run of bad luck. In the first few minutes her mother dies, after she has turned down a scholarship to the State University (she's a track star). Then she has a troublesome relationship with a macho guy, who ultimately leaves her to join the Army, and she settles into a comfortable but passionless affair with a nice guy who stutters (but he stops when he talks to her). Through all of this Oya can not conceive a child, which seems to trouble the whole community.
There may be more that I missed--the Creole accents are pretty strong and I didn't hear everything. Aside from that, though, the cast is energetic and appealing, particularly Kianne Muschett as Oya. The play has a lot of musicality, and has clear connections to the traditions of the black church.
McCraney, as a playwright, shows promise, as his prose is very lyrical, but he has to shake some beginner's clumsiness. For one thing, he has his characters stating their stage directions, which at times gets some laughs, but more often seems an indulgent affectation. And I just couldn't get into the story. When, at the climax, Oya pulls a stunt worthy of Van Gogh, it seems to come out of nowhere.
Look back here next month to see how I like the second half of this repertory program.
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