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| FAIRVIEW | |
| Posted by: Shutterbug 10:21 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| Just came from Theatre for a New Audience, which is presenting the Soho Rep production of FAIRVIEW. This show left me wrecked. I urge anyone who cares about racial politics to see it. So powerful and boundary pushing that it overwhelms you. An absolutely fascinating piece of work, multilayered and impeccably detailed. Absolutely deserved it’s Pulitzer Prize. Nothing else on the NY stage comes close to evoking the visceral response that this does. This is one of those rare shows that achieves a true and audacious coup de theater. Go see it! |
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| re: FAIRVIEW after some reflection | |
| Posted by: dreamawakening 12:27 am EDT 06/25/19 | |
| In reply to: FAIRVIEW - Shutterbug 10:21 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| I liked the play. A lot. Can’t stop thinking about it. Maybe some people didn’t like it. That’s fine. We all have our own opinions about life and art. But some of the comments here are disturbing and so insensitive and flat out wrong. I just read the play and it’s so brilliant it’s hard to understand how anyone can not see that. All I want to do now is see it again. And I don’t know if this has been discussed – on the page before the play begins, the author writes – A Quote: “ ‘Dirty nigger!’ Or simply ‘Look, a Negro!’” - from Black Skin White Masks by Frantz Fanon This, reversed, is the play, in a way. |
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| re: FAIRVIEW | |
| Posted by: drummergirl 05:30 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: FAIRVIEW - Shutterbug 10:21 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| Seeing it on Wednesday! | |
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| re: FAIRVIEW | |
| Posted by: Shutterbug 05:40 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: FAIRVIEW - drummergirl 05:30 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| Please post your thoughts. Will be so curious to hear what you think. | |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? | |
| Posted by: broadwaymyway 02:54 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: FAIRVIEW - Shutterbug 10:21 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| I'll never get to see it so what's the big twist, please? | |
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| thanks everyone | |
| Posted by: broadwaymyway 10:25 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? - broadwaymyway 02:54 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| very informative, much appreciated | |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? | |
| Posted by: FasterTheater 02:41 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? - broadwaymyway 02:54 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| My review gives you the option of avoiding the "spoilers" (I put them at the bottom below the photographs) but I also explain why I talk about the whole play | |
| Link | Fairview Review: 2019 Pulitzer Winning Drama About Race and the White Gaze Remounted |
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| Another Pulitzer winner I won’t see like the flick | |
| Posted by: dramedy 03:07 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? - FasterTheater 02:41 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| The flick is just not produced but I don’t think i would like the slow pace of that play. Reading your review, that second act would have me wanting to leave the theater for boredom. | |
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| re: Another Pulitzer winner I won’t see like the flick | |
| Posted by: Showtunegal 05:58 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: Another Pulitzer winner I won’t see like the flick - dramedy 03:07 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| Well, I'm ok with a slow play (The Flick), but I found the second act REALLY funny. It wasn't slow at all--it's played for humor, until you suddenly realize what's going on. I agree with the Chatters who were provoked by this play and I agree it was the most effectively provocative play about race I saw this year, and I saw Underground Railroad Game, Ain't No Mo' (which I also really liked) and White Noise. | |
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| I think berk rep did it before nyc and I missed it | |
| Posted by: dramedy 06:36 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Another Pulitzer winner I won’t see like the flick - Showtunegal 05:58 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| But maybe one of the other local theaters will do it. I still haven’t seen a production of last years winner Cost of Living. | |
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| re: Another Pulitzer winner I won’t see like the flick | |
| Posted by: Ann 03:11 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: Another Pulitzer winner I won’t see like the flick - dramedy 03:07 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| The Flick has been produced. I think most regional areas have seen it, though maybe not multiple productions. | |
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| THE FLICK in Chicago | |
| Last Edit: BroadwayTonyJ 07:49 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| Posted by: BroadwayTonyJ 07:45 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Another Pulitzer winner I won’t see like the flick - Ann 03:11 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| I saw the Steppenwolf staging in 2016 -- it's a very good play. I think another Chicago area theater is scheduled to do a production later this season. Most likely Steppenwolf will be the theater that eventually tackles Fairview, probably in one of their smaller theaters. With the exception of The Coast of Utopia, every play that has gotten a Best Play Tony nomination in the last 25 years has been or is scheduled to be done in the Chicago area. Oslo is being staged by Timeline in September. However, I can't imagine any of the major Chicago regional theaters doing Gary -- the prestige theaters in Chicago just don't do toilet and/or genitalia humor. The one theater that would be able to do it justice is Hell in a Handbag, but the licensing fee may be beyond its budget. |
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| I kind of kept an eye open for San Fran | |
| Posted by: dramedy 03:53 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Another Pulitzer winner I won’t see like the flick - Ann 03:11 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| But I don’t think it was done. I know act, Berkeley rep and theaterworks didnt do it or at least not after winning the Pulitzer. | |
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| Oops. Shotgun is doing it this September. | |
| Posted by: dramedy 03:56 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: I kind of kept an eye open for San Fran - dramedy 03:53 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| I guess I’ll see it after all on really uncomfortable padded bench seating. | |
| Link | https://shotgunplayers.org/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=6D3B4315-1224-4424-BF0C-2720E0545FEE&menu_id=A9AA731D-A9E2-4E77-ACBB-FF924 |
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| re: I kind of kept an eye open for San Fran | |
| Last Edit: Ann 03:55 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| Posted by: Ann 03:55 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: I kind of kept an eye open for San Fran - dramedy 03:53 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| I see Shotgun Players is producing it in August-September. | |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? | |
| Posted by: blue70 03:07 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? - FasterTheater 02:41 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| I haven't seen Fairview, but I dislike any theater that requires audience participation, except perhaps something like the Mystery of Edwin Drood, where the audience votes. I saw a show in Brooklyn last year that required the entire audience to sit in the center of the stage at the end of the show while the performers performed in and around them. I don't think anyone enjoyed it, and I remain unconvinced that it added anything to the show. If you want me to perform in your play, you can pay me. |
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| I even hate clapping along. | |
| Posted by: dramedy 03:09 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? - blue70 03:07 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| When promoted from the stage. | |
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| re: I even hate clapping along. | |
| Posted by: Ann 03:10 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: I even hate clapping along. - dramedy 03:09 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| On that we agree, dramedy. | |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler | |
| Posted by: bobjohnny 06:39 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? - broadwaymyway 02:54 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| The white audience members are asked to go on stage while the black actors take their seats in the audience. Hate me, but that's the spoiler. Being white, I stayed in my seat, and was hoping one of the actors would ask me why I wasn't on stage. I wanted to reply, "Because I'm gay! I'm a victim, too." Unfortunately, the play doesn't take audience participation that far. | |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler | |
| Posted by: den 08:57 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler - bobjohnny 06:39 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| I saw this play yesterday, and I loved it up until the last 15 minutes. As a middle aged white guy, I found myself removed from the play at that point rather than drawn further into it, and I was distracted from what I THINK was a beautifully written, profoundly important monologue by the movement of folks tromping up to the stage and standing there, awkwardly, while the excellent Mayaa Boeteng fought a vailiant but losing battle to compel the audience’s (ok, maybe just MY) attention. I look forward to reading the text. But if I wanted to be up on stage, I would have auditioned. | |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler | |
| Posted by: student_rush 09:15 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler - den 08:57 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| Exactly. The play fails because the audience has no emotional or tangible connection to the white characters violating the black characters’ space ... not to mention that we haven’t fully come to understand the specifics dictating the black performance, so we can’t fully grasp the entirety of the desired disruption. | |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler | |
| Posted by: joerialto 02:22 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler - bobjohnny 06:39 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| This sounds like the parody play ‘Be Black Baby!’ in the early 1970s Brian DePalma/Robert DeNiro comedy, ‘Hi Mom!’ where a middle class white audience is humiliated by black actors in an off-Broadway production. DePalma based it on his work with The Living Theater troupe a few years earlier. | |
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| the difference is | |
| Posted by: dramedy 12:18 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler - bobjohnny 06:39 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| That many gays can act and dress straight when need be. Race minorities can’t do that. | |
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| re: the difference is | |
| Posted by: ryhog 12:44 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: the difference is - dramedy 12:18 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| that is perhaps true in some cases but not all, but this is really beside the point because it's not a competition. Being a member of one aggrieved minority to not equate with being a member of another, and of course one can be gay and a racist, black and a homophobe, etc. | |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler | |
| Last Edit: singleticket 10:54 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| Posted by: singleticket 10:50 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler - bobjohnny 06:39 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| I'm gay! I'm a victim, too. We certainly are victims too. This is one of the thorniest areas of the white privilege debate. But I will say that in Europe, it is now perfectly possible to be both gay and a white nationalist. Not so in the US where gay voters are largely tied to the Democratic Party because of the polarizing effect of the Christian Right. |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler | |
| Posted by: oddone 07:06 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler - bobjohnny 06:39 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| I'm another one who finds Fairview to be a bit more problematic than the critical establishment would have you believe. To spell out the "twist" even more, near the end of the play, the company asks any white-identifying audience members (i.e., most of them) to go up onstage, while permitting any who identify as people of color to remain in the audience. It takes a bit at first for the audience to get moving, and the cast waits for people to go up, saying things like "we're not going continue until you all go up there" or whatever. Those in the cast who are white go on stage as well; those who aren't, sit in the audience. The idea is to "flip" the trope of "white people LOOKING AT black people" or "black people PERFORMING FOR white people" on its head. So the people of color then get to look at the white people. And for what it's worth, the lighting design is such that as the white audience members are on stage, the lights slowly get hotter, making it more "uncomfortable" to be onstage (at least at the Soho Rep it was like this). One of my problems is, that when you have a mostly white audience, this "flip" doesn't really happen - the very few people of color left in the audience become that much more obvious - now the white audience gets to look at them (the audience seating at the Soho Rep was dark, but you could still see them). I found that actually walking up on stage becomes much more anonymous - you're still a part of a big group- you've just moved position a tad. It doesn't do the deconstructing it claims to be doing. Not to mention that the gaze being tackled here is one that the play ends up simplifying far more than the audience members themselves do. Black-white relations are constructed in the play as VERY generic and stereotyped. It's always "black people performing for white people," but of course, as Strange Loop attempts to address, black people also perform, or feel pressure to perform, in similar kinds of stereotypical ways, for BLACK people all the time. And then you have the ability for some white audience members not to move - no one confronts them, because the question is put to the audience along the lines of "how do you identify?" Well, if you identify as in some way oppressed, then I guess it's ok to stay where you are. But that also isn't how the world works. To a previous poster's point - I actually liked Strange Loop a lot. I think it was tackling more stereotypes/expectations within black culture, and was less concerned with making white audiences feel a certain way. It held off on trying to implicate any one group en masse. The play I think has some similar intent to Fairview is the even more problematic Slave Play, where a white audience is told they are BAD BAD BAD - and because they are encouraged to feel bad about themselves, they get to feel GOOD about themselves for feeling so "woke." It's so clearly a play written to bilk money out of progressive white theatres who want to "say something important about race," and sure enough, the mostly white critical establishment fell head over heels for it. I don't think Fairview is quite as repulsive as Slave Play; indeed, there is a lot about it BEFORE the "twist" that I think works quite well. But because I knew the twist was coming, I couldn't help but view it with that end in mind. Finally, someone else was asking about a transfer? This IS the transfer. It played at Soho Rep back in 2018, and like happened with An Octoroon, after many months, the production reappeared at TFANA. I doubt it will do another production in NYC (but after the Pulitzer, definitely look for it around the country). I don't think it is a play that is dependent on its cast. White theatres everywhere will no doubt take a year off from August Wilson and slot it in their "black play" slot. |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler | |
| Last Edit: Shutterbug 11:13 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| Posted by: Shutterbug 11:12 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler - oddone 07:06 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| There’s a lot going on in this play besides what folks are referring to as the final twist. I think reducing this play to its final moments does a disservice to the artistic vision of the playwright. The final moment/monologue ties the work together and bring its themes to a visceral and undeniable conclusion, but there’s so much more to the script than that. This play is bound to be polarizing, and I think it’s power can be seen in the responses generated by this thread. |
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| re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler | |
| Posted by: singleticket 10:42 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: could somebody spoil this for me? Here's the spoiler - oddone 07:06 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| Black-white relations are constructed in the play as VERY generic and stereotyped. At first I felt that way, mainly through the dialogue of the offstage white actors in what felt to me like "the second act". But then when the white actors start to participate in the drama, taking over black roles, morphing into them, I found that the play reached another dimension of critique. I was particularly struck by what seemed to me to be the gay male voice that found its way into embodying the sassy homegirl in the "third act". |
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| re: FAIRVIEW | |
| Posted by: student_rush 10:59 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
| In reply to: FAIRVIEW - Shutterbug 10:21 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| To provide an alternative viewpoint, I think the text presents an interesting conversation about how black characters are viewed by predominately white characters. That being said, I think the production's direction fails at every turn - the vocabulary is muddled and fails to define differing worlds and implicate the audience in the play's destruction before the fourth wall-breaking conclusion. We will absolutely see sharper (better) productions of FAIRVIEW in the future with different directors at the helm. The final monologue is the straw that breaks the camel's back. It is neither shocking in the way the play purports it to be ... a masturbatory exercise in "disrupting" theatrical conventions, without any emotional connection to the characters or stakes of the evening. The young woman made a reference about "the show being over faster" if we got on stage faster, and it got one of the heartier laughs of the night - this entire exercise reeks of "college thesis mandatory talkback" and is weighed down by its own pretension. It was also a real "fuck you" to a nonprofit company whose audience is predominately older and white ... so we should be shamed for buying tickets and seeing the show? I am young and white, but my queer POC playwright friend that I attended the show with hated it more than I did. This is the kind of theatre (in addition to my STRANGE LOOP conversation below in a different thread) which makes it clear it is IMPORTANT and SERIOUS. Spare me. |
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| re: FAIRVIEW | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 08:15 am EDT 06/25/19 | |
| In reply to: re: FAIRVIEW - student_rush 10:59 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| "It was also a real "fuck you" to a nonprofit company whose audience is predominately older and white ... so we should be shamed for buying tickets and seeing the show?" So on a theater board, you claim that being asked to stand on stage so you can be looked at is shaming? |
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| re: FAIRVIEW | |
| Posted by: student_rush 09:51 am EDT 06/25/19 | |
| In reply to: re: FAIRVIEW - whereismikeyfl 08:15 am EDT 06/25/19 | |
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| Are you joking? I was grinning like an idiot ... it was cool to be standing on the stage at TFANA! It was probably less cool for the seventy year-old white audience members who have loyally been subscribing to a theatre company that is now asking them to stand up and walk up to the stage (or take an elevator, as some of the crew pointed out - give me a break). That speaks more to my point, however, that the moment failed for me. I had zero emotional attachment to any of the characters - white or black - and felt no guilt as a collective audience for my behavior at the show because we had no connection to any of the preceding action. I knew the show would be over faster if we moved faster, and that was about it. |
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| re: FAIRVIEW | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 11:06 am EDT 06/25/19 | |
| In reply to: re: FAIRVIEW - student_rush 09:51 am EDT 06/25/19 | |
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| So it was not a fuck you, but something enjoyable? | |
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| re: FAIRVIEW | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 04:00 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: FAIRVIEW - student_rush 10:59 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| "It was also a real "fuck you" to a nonprofit company whose audience is predominately older and white ... so we should be shamed for buying tickets and seeing the show?" I don't see it as an F U, but either way, this feels like appropriate penance for getting a pass for the ways in which African bodies were predominantly excluded from and marginalized in "The Emperor". |
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| I agree with student rush’s assessment | |
| Posted by: gad90210 06:13 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: FAIRVIEW - student_rush 10:59 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| The play left my friend and I cold and annoyed. I didn’t feel any emotional connection at all to the proceedings. | |
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| I was technically annoyed | |
| Posted by: Genealley 01:58 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: I agree with student rush’s assessment - gad90210 06:13 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| Thought: Part 1 was tame and clichéd (meant to be, I guess) Part 2 was interesting but the haranguing ultimately wore me down Part 3 was unbelievably strange and a one-of-a-kind theatrical experience Part 4 was alienating (also meant to be) But my problem was: I couldn't hear the actress in Part 4. Well, maybe that was part of the alienation. But a big bummer. |
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| Any possibility of a transfer? | |
| Last Edit: DistantDrumming 10:49 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
| Posted by: DistantDrumming 10:49 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
| In reply to: FAIRVIEW - Shutterbug 10:21 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| The ecstatic reactions this play has received makes me sad that this engagement is so relatively brief. Have there been any rumors or rumblings about a possible transfer or a longer run somewhere else? Or will I have to hope to catch it regionally somewhere one day? | |
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| re: Any possibility of a transfer? | |
| Posted by: earlybird 08:29 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: Any possibility of a transfer? - DistantDrumming 10:49 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| The problem is, there is a certain thing they do at the end of the play that would be difficult to achieve successfully in a large house. So I think Broadway is pretty much off the table, unless they are willing to sacrifice the integrity of that big, pivotal moment. I think your best hope will be regional productions. I could see this being done a lot, as it’s not all that difficult to produce. |
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| or | |
| Posted by: dramedy 02:57 pm EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: Any possibility of a transfer? - earlybird 08:29 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
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| They do like rocky and have only the first few rows go on stage. Maybe the white people that bought premium seats that are the 1%. | |
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| re: FAIRVIEW | |
| Posted by: dreamawakening 10:42 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
| In reply to: FAIRVIEW - Shutterbug 10:21 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| agreed! My only complaint is that the final monologue isn't included in the program |
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| re: FAIRVIEW (possible/vague SPOILER) | |
| Posted by: JBarnet 12:00 am EDT 06/24/19 | |
| In reply to: re: FAIRVIEW - dreamawakening 10:42 pm EDT 06/23/19 | |
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| POSSIBLE/VAGUE SPOILER . . . . . The insurance for this production must be sky high given the audience logistics required for the end to work. I was in a production at a major regional theater several years ago where the audience also came onstage and the company manager of the theater told me it turned the budget from normal to insane. I mean, the Hair revival did it, so I guess there’s precedent. But that had The Public behind it and the title was super recognizable. Would love to see a transfer. How powerful would that final sequence be from/on a Broadway stage? |
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