While I was waiting, notebook in hand, for “The Bluest Eye” to begin at the Black Repertory Theater last weekend someone asked for whom I was writing. When I told her that I was a reporter for The Rhode Island Catholic she asked, “Do you know what this play is about?” with great concern in her voice.
Yes, I told her, I did know what the play was about and yes, I did think it was appropriate for a Catholic paper.
To be sure, Lydia Diamond’s adaptation of Toni Morrison’s acclaimed novel deals with adult themes – racism, incest, rape, poverty, and domestic abuse just to name a few. But, the lyrical, stirring way that the play deals with these themes makes it not only appropriate, but essential for all audiences – regardless of race or creed (to be fair, age is likely a barrier).
The Black Repertory Company has put together a stunning representation of Morrison’s book. Despite the troupe’s recent setbacks – a portion of the roof collapsed and the repairs were not covered by insurance, forcing them to close the theater for several weeks in December and January and hold impromptu fundraisers – the show went off without a hitch.
Akela Marsh in the role of Claudia, the young narrator, is hard to look away from. Her humor and unapologetic description of growing up poor and African American in a still tacitly racist world immediately draws you into her world – a world where mothers and fathers are far from perfect, but their flaws are also their humanity.
The story quickly finds itself in a place where Claudia is compelled to explain away some pretty egregious crimes. But, as she says, “Since the why is hard to handle we must take refuge in how.” The play doesn’t attempt to explain or analyze the horrors that her friend Pecola endures; the task would be nearly impossible. Rather, through the brutally honest voice of Claudia, “The Bluest Eye” simply tells, in excruciating detail, exactly what happened to Pecola and what happened to the parents who created her and how they shaped Claudia and her sister’s childhood.
The trio of young girls – Pecola, played by Margaret Odette Perkins, Claudia, and her sister Frieda, played by Jade Guerra, are delightful and difficult to watch. The injustices and cruelty that they face in a world where little black girls receive white baby dolls for Christmas and go unnoticed by white shop owners are heartbreaking. But their spunky attitudes and unintentional humor in the face of it all are uplifting at the same time.
Don Mays’ directing perfectly complements the story and makes ingenious uses of the small theater’s limitations. He uses the entire stage, often split into three separate sections representing three distinct points in time and space. During several scenes, Claudia speaks to the audience from the center section as a narrator reflecting back on her childhood, Pecola occupies the section to the right of her, reciting nonsensical passages from a children’s story and descending deeper into her own tragedy, and the backstory of one of the show’s adults fills the left section. Only the simplest set decorations are used: two stools, a bench that serves as a bed, coffin, see-saw, and porch at various points, and several panels of gauzy fabric that hang from the ceiling, along with a delightful selection of period music, were all Mays needed to transport the audience to 1940s Ohio.
Black Rep’s “The Bluest Eye” will make you laugh through your tears. You will gasp in horror one moment and feel your spirit soar the next – most importantly, though, it will make you react, it will make you feel. And that, my Catholic readers, is the goal of theater and is what makes this show appropriate for everyone.
The Bluest Eye
Black Repertory Company
276 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903
Call 351-0353 or visit www.blackrep.org
For tickets visit the web site or the box office Thursday-Sunday afternoons and evenings
Performances are scheduled through March 9: Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.
