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Clybourne Park is amazing – the script and even moreso the cast. Dawn Ursula, in particular, wow. She pwns everyone, first act and second. Also, I want to strangle Jennifer Mendenhall in both acts, and that's a good thing.
The play is written as a companion/sequel to Raisin in the Sun. The first act takes place in the house that is being sold to the Youngers; the second act is the same house, about to be razed because renovations would cost more than a new build, during the current gentrification of the neighbourhood. Both acts cover similar ground: what is the attraction of a neighbourhood? How do the demographics of a neighbourhood change? Should there be a premium on the past, and what aspects of the past? From comparison of commute times to comments about skiing, similar concerns are addressed in both time periods, and in similar ways, tracking the upper middle class movement first to the suburbs (jobs and homes) and then back into the Loop.
I love the humour of the piece, the way the jokes as well as the concerns carry across the acts/generations. I love the energy of the characters – they shout (they shout a lot – the play is largely shouting) for a reason, because the emotions are so high, and naturally so. It isn't forced, because these are subjects we rarely discuss calmly and dispassionately; we argue about them in real life, and it's so easy to want to shout down the characters, in both acts, because that's the way we engage with these topics. I love that Karl Lindner is nebbishy and panicking over his pregnant wife – it has nothing to do with his racism, but it's a good way to humanise him enough to listen to. He's as strident about the possible effect of cold drinks on the baby as he is about a black family moving into the neighbourhood. He's just a panicky guy, his reaction to everything is over the top, and you just want to save the other characters from him (including his wife). I love that Steve (act II) at least is trying to say something more than his wife's soundbites, even if he should put a sock in it and think for his own good. I'm going to kill Jennifer Mendenhall because no one should be as annoyingly stupid as her characters in both acts.
It's so easy to want to engage, to throw yourself on stage and attempt to save people from themselves. But then Dawn Ursula, first as the maid in act I then as an upper-middle-class black resident of the neighbourhood (Lena Younger was her great aunt, and she grew up in the neighbourhood even if now she and her husband can afford expensive European vacations), pwns everyone, so you don't really need to embarrass yourself. I felt engaged in a way I haven't in what seems like a long time, facepalming and groaning and laughing at the characters as they dig themselves into holes. And I need to remember that tampon joke, because wow, the look on Dawn Ursula's face as she delivers that smackdown is brilliant. (Also, "We're not insulting your ethics; we're insulting your taste." I love her.)
I hope the piece lasts. Some of the jokes (such as any reference to Whole Foods) will need to be footnoted 50 years down the road, but the piece is a fantastic artifact of this period. It really does hit all the arguments and implications that one sees in the media, both local blogs and national media. Every reference makes perfect sense, and while it is rooted in Raisin in the Sun and is very deliberately a Chicago story, the concerns of the characters apply to every major American city. It's just sad that such a deliberately Chicago story did not premiere in Chicago. But wow, this cast is awesome – I feel privileged to have seen them (thank god this re-staging was able to happen, as I was kicking myself that the timing and the money just weren't working out in the first run). Hilarious script masterfully performed. (and Cody Nickell is hot, but we already knew that *g*.)
The play is written as a companion/sequel to Raisin in the Sun. The first act takes place in the house that is being sold to the Youngers; the second act is the same house, about to be razed because renovations would cost more than a new build, during the current gentrification of the neighbourhood. Both acts cover similar ground: what is the attraction of a neighbourhood? How do the demographics of a neighbourhood change? Should there be a premium on the past, and what aspects of the past? From comparison of commute times to comments about skiing, similar concerns are addressed in both time periods, and in similar ways, tracking the upper middle class movement first to the suburbs (jobs and homes) and then back into the Loop.
I love the humour of the piece, the way the jokes as well as the concerns carry across the acts/generations. I love the energy of the characters – they shout (they shout a lot – the play is largely shouting) for a reason, because the emotions are so high, and naturally so. It isn't forced, because these are subjects we rarely discuss calmly and dispassionately; we argue about them in real life, and it's so easy to want to shout down the characters, in both acts, because that's the way we engage with these topics. I love that Karl Lindner is nebbishy and panicking over his pregnant wife – it has nothing to do with his racism, but it's a good way to humanise him enough to listen to. He's as strident about the possible effect of cold drinks on the baby as he is about a black family moving into the neighbourhood. He's just a panicky guy, his reaction to everything is over the top, and you just want to save the other characters from him (including his wife). I love that Steve (act II) at least is trying to say something more than his wife's soundbites, even if he should put a sock in it and think for his own good. I'm going to kill Jennifer Mendenhall because no one should be as annoyingly stupid as her characters in both acts.
It's so easy to want to engage, to throw yourself on stage and attempt to save people from themselves. But then Dawn Ursula, first as the maid in act I then as an upper-middle-class black resident of the neighbourhood (Lena Younger was her great aunt, and she grew up in the neighbourhood even if now she and her husband can afford expensive European vacations), pwns everyone, so you don't really need to embarrass yourself. I felt engaged in a way I haven't in what seems like a long time, facepalming and groaning and laughing at the characters as they dig themselves into holes. And I need to remember that tampon joke, because wow, the look on Dawn Ursula's face as she delivers that smackdown is brilliant. (Also, "We're not insulting your ethics; we're insulting your taste." I love her.)
I hope the piece lasts. Some of the jokes (such as any reference to Whole Foods) will need to be footnoted 50 years down the road, but the piece is a fantastic artifact of this period. It really does hit all the arguments and implications that one sees in the media, both local blogs and national media. Every reference makes perfect sense, and while it is rooted in Raisin in the Sun and is very deliberately a Chicago story, the concerns of the characters apply to every major American city. It's just sad that such a deliberately Chicago story did not premiere in Chicago. But wow, this cast is awesome – I feel privileged to have seen them (thank god this re-staging was able to happen, as I was kicking myself that the timing and the money just weren't working out in the first run). Hilarious script masterfully performed. (and Cody Nickell is hot, but we already knew that *g*.)