Take your seat and stare at the mirrors on the stage facing the audience. An image of a large white plantation home is reflected from the front of the mezzanine. Slave Play is the name of Jeremy O. Harris’ mind-blowing and audacious work which has moved to Broadway after a successful run Off-Broadway last season. The play, the production and the performances are phenomenal. This is theater for people who demand excellence, embrace discomfort and revel in brilliant character writing.
In order to experience this devastating satire, it is likely best to go in, like I did, with little knowledge and a vague assumption about what the titular word slave will mean. I have no intention of spoiling the extraordinary surprises which unfold so let’s simply ponder the opening scene.
Kaneisha enters with a broom and does some light sweeping. She can feel the music in her and begins dancing. She is a black slave stereotype of the era. Jim enters next carrying a whip. He is the overseer on the plantation, not the master. He thinks it is devilish to move one’s body like that, “dancing like a raccoon in heat.” He is a white southern stereotype. Will there be a whipping of this “negress?”
The politics of sex, power and race take center stage in Slave Play and never leave until the emotionally raw final scene. Mr. Harris is using American history (or a fantasized, comedic version) to consider and illuminate interracial relationships. Can a white man and a black woman ever be free of the Kaneisha and Jim dynamic? No matter how hard you laugh – which will happen very, very often – the edges here are bitingly sharp and thought provoking.
When the play ended, there were two camps. The majority seemed blown away by the masterful and thoroughly riotous dissection of our contentious racial issues and their long-lasting impact. The not tiny minority, notably older white couples, gave the impression that they desperately had to flee the theater as quickly as possible during the curtain call. If you like shows which are, so to speak, white-washed trifles of easily digestible and inoffensive history, Slave Play is not for you.
For everyone else, this experience is both mentally challenging and wildly entertaining. Mr. Harris has written eight roles, all of which are infused with unique personalities, beliefs, attitudes and vulnerabilities. Robert O’Hara directed this masterpiece which effectively lands every joke and dramatic sting. Mr. O’Hara’s own play Barbecue similarly mined stereotyped racial profiles with comedy, tension and surprises.
The entire cast is stellar. Joaquina Kalukango and Paul Alexander Nolan portray Kaneisha and Jim. The elements of farce are spot on while the gut wrenching realness of true love and inbred wiring are painful to observe. There is a lot of observation in Slave Play. Clint Ramos’ playfully simple set design works its magic throughout the production. The mirrors always face the audience. This is you. This is all of us.
Annie McNamara’s mistress of the plantation is nothing short of a tour de force. Her scene with Sullivan Jones is a comedic pairing for the ages. They will make you howl with laughter as you squirm in your seat. As Dustin the not really white guy, James Cusati-Moyer nails an exceptionally written monologue in a play overflowing with them. The entire cast is superb.
Time will tell if Broadway audiences will embrace this remarkable work. When was the last time I saw a play this rich with such well-written characters across the board? Hard to say but this one feels like a classic. Boundaries are pushed. Themes hit hard. As they should. Sex, race and power struggles are no laughing matter. Thanks to playwright Jeremy O. Harris, that statement is incorrect. Bold and adventurous theatergoers should grab a ticket to this one-of-a-kind fantasia. There is so much more to this play than even mentioned here.