Past Reviews

Regional Reviews: New Jersey

The Whipping Man: The Corrosive Effect of Slave Ownership on a Confederate Jewish Family
George Street Playhouse

Also see Bob's reviews of Sizwe Banzi is Dead and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike


Luke Forbes, Ron Canada, and Adam Gerber
Matthew Lopez' powerful and insightful Civil War play The Whipping Man, which premiered at Luna Stage in Montclair in 2006 and has since been widely produced throughout the country, has returned to New Jersey in an exemplary production.

The play begins several days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, as seriously wounded, youthful Confederate officer Caleb DeLeon drags himself into his badly damaged family home in Richmond, Virginia. Standing guard to protect the remains of the house is elder house slave Simon. Caleb takes to ordering him about, leading Simon, now a free man, to remind him, "all these things you're telling me to do, by rights now you need to be asking me." Simon is solicitous of Caleb and clearly cares about him and the DeLeon family. In short order, John, another newly free DeLeon slave, enters the house. A contemporary of Caleb, John bears hostility toward him, but remains, and Simon reluctantly tends to Caleb for reasons of his own.

The DeLeons are a Jewish family, and when Simon was a child he was taught Judaism by Caleb's grandfather and accepted the Jewish faith. Simon prepares to conduct a Passover Seder which this year has special meaning for him as it coincides with his own attainment of freedom. Both Caleb and John are resistant. Like Simon, John was taught and has accepted the Hebrew faith. However, John is more questioning than Simon, and he questions whether the DeLeons sincerely consider Simon and him to be Jewish, to be family. He has read in Leviticus that, "if thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve. And in the seventh he shall go out for nothing."

John asks Simon to explain how he can "square" his faith with the DeLeons' hypocrisy in keeping them as slaves in contradiction to Biblical injunction. Speaking to both John and Caleb, Simon responds:

I can't. I can't square anything I don't understand. It ain't ours to square. That's why we always asking ... sometimes you didn't get answers that you liked. But you kept on asking. That's what a Jew is. We talk with God, we wrestle with him. Sometimes we even argue with Him. We never stop asking, looking, hoping for answers. You don't lose your faith by not getting answers. You lose your faith by not asking questions. But you're both still asking ... This is what we do. This is our family.

There is much in the way of family history and ongoing events and secrets to be revealed over the course of Lopez' play, including what happened to John when he was brought by Caleb's father to the Whipping Man for punishment for perceived misdeeds. None will be revealed here. Suffice to say that what is revealed is compelling, substantial, tragic and all too believable. Certainly, slavery has done irreparable damage to the DeLeon slaves, but it has also scarred their slave masters by unmooring them from their religious beliefs and humanity. All of this is chronicled by Lopez with eloquence and clear-eyed compassion.

Ron Canada powerfully conveys the dignity and strength of an honest, simple man single mindedly determined to live by his principles. Luke Forbes effortlessly captures the admirable life-affirming spirit which underlies even John's most impulsively self destructive behavior. Adam Gerber wisely seeks no more sympathy than is due for the clueless Caleb whose privileged, unexamined world is collapsing around him.

Director Seret Scott has elicited intense, emphatic performances which are appropriate to the troubled characters and their situation. Scott also keeps matters lively and flowing by physically deploying her actors throughout every nook and cranny of Jason Simms' large, evocative set.

The Whipping Man is a first rate American play which well deserves its wide spread exposure and popularity.

The Whipping Man continues performances (Evenings: Tuesday - Saturday 8 PM/ Sunday (except 2/15) 7 PM / Matinees: Saturday & Sunday 2 PM) through February 15, 2015, at the George Street Playhouse, 9 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, N.J. 08901; Box Office: 732-246-7717; Online: www.GSPonline.org.

The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez; directed by Seret Scott

Cast
Simon……………..Ron Canada
Caleb……………Adam Gerber
John………………Luke Forbes


Photo: T. Charles Erickson


- Bob Rendell