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‘A Lesson Before Dying’ @ Theatrical Outfit
THEATER REVIEW. “A Lesson Before Dying” Grade: B. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays. 2:30 p.m. Sundays. 2 p.m. Saturday and Nov. 22. Through Nov. 23. $30. Theatrical Outfit, Balzer Theater at Herren’s. 84 Luckie St. N.W., Atlanta. 678-528-1500, theatricaloutfit.org
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In Ernest J. Gaines’ 1993 novel, “A Lesson Before Dying,” a young black man named Jefferson is falsely accused of killing a white merchant. When his defense attorney calls him a “hog,” Jefferson is rendered sub-human, and condemned to a deeper kind of psychological purgatory.
Jefferson shuns a maternal visitor’s baskets of fried chicken and teacakes, getting down on the floor to gnash at the food and grunt like a pig. But over the course of the story, he achieves spiritual rehabilitation and rebirth, thanks to the ministering of a schoolteacher and preacher recruited by his surrogate family.
Jefferson’s journey — his capacity to love and forgive in the face of brutality — is now on display in a strong production of Romulus Linney’s adaptation at Theatrical Outfit. Delicately directed by Jill Jane Clements, the action moves painfully and methodically toward its inexorable conclusion.
Set in Jim Crow-era Louisiana, “Lesson” recalls such morally complex material as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Horton Foote’s “The Chase,” both produced recently by the Outfit, the city’s major producer of Southern drama.
At first glance, the plodding play can feel a little creaky, preachy and loaded with stock characters (the bigoted sheriff, the sensitive warden, the idealistic teacher). But as long as the criminal justice system is exacting the death penalty (in the state of Georgia no less), as long as America flaunts disparities of color and class, Gaines’ archetypal tale remains as ripe for debate as headlines and talk TV.
Here designers Jamie Bullins (sets) and Rob Dillard (lighting) create a mood of spot-on realism for the parish courthouse, where Jefferson lurches in from a nearby cell to receive visitors: His godmother Miss Emma Glenn (Veronica Redd), never without a picnic basket in hand; the Rev. Moses Ambrose (Gordon Danniels) and plantation schoolteacher Grant Wiggins (Johnell J. Easter), who comes with his own set of troubles and conflicts.
Like some directorial angel, Clements takes great care in coaxing sensitively crafted performances from her company. Miss Emma’s nerves are a source of good comedy. William S. Murphey, solid as always, struts like a rooster as Sheriff Sam Guidry. Rich Remedios, as the quiet deputy Paul Bonin, is almost always onstage, and though he says very little, he provides an aura of calm.
If Easter’s Grant Wiggins seems a little flavorless, Little’s Jefferson is appropriately sullen — a little broad at first but ultimately affecting.
As Jefferson finds his peace in a twisted, bigoted world, time hangs. As he becomes a Christlike figure who is kind to children, his destiny transforms him. On opening night, so many tears flowed that the show felt like a lesson before crying. A somber, reflective and brutal story, yes, but one pinned to a crucible of grace and hope.
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Comments
By s alford
November 7, 2008 2:36 PM | Link to this
Current theatrical wisdom too often disregards the work of the dedicated costume designer. One reason is the majority of these highly trained individuals do their jobs so well the costumes seem a natural part of the staging - and depending on the show that is as is should be. In smaller theatres it is the norm for the designer to do the whole costume bit — from designing, to shopping, cutting, draping, stitching,fitting, pressing etc. — often with hair or wigs and makeup thrown in for good measure. For many, love of theatre keeps them going. But respect - simple respect — is long overdue for these dedicated, hardworking technicians. That includes mention in a review where warranted.
By Ann Coatny
November 7, 2008 8:12 PM | Link to this
What about the sound designer? That too almost never gets mentioned.