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| re: If I had to guess... | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 12:54 pm EDT 09/04/21 | |
| In reply to: re: If I had to guess... - dbdbdb 06:29 pm EDT 09/03/21 | |
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| The history is virtually unknown to people in the US and the dramatization is a bit...unconsciously racist. In the second half especially, the white female lead gets her story fully dramatized while the black characters relate some of the most important chunks of their stories in monolog. While this gives black performers opportunities for bravura acting, it does not involve us in the same way the white characters stories do. The black characters are othered. With all the great black British writers of Caribbean decent, why would they have a white women who has lived all her life in Britain write the adaptation? |
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| re: If I had to guess... | |
| Posted by: Ordoc 02:54 am EDT 09/05/21 | |
| In reply to: re: If I had to guess... - whereismikeyfl 12:54 pm EDT 09/04/21 | |
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| The playwright, Helen Edmundson, called working with Levy 'a joy and a privilege', saying: Like her books, she was uncompromising and funny, wise and honest. There was nothing I couldn’t ask her, and always something we could laugh about. Although we sometimes fantasised about miracles, we knew it was very unlikely that she would ever see the play. Her support for the script I arrived at meant everything. I once told her that adapting Small Island was as complex and important as adapting War and Peace. She loved that. She was, and is, one of the greats.[3] |
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| re: If I had to guess... | |
| Posted by: dlittle 10:49 pm EDT 09/04/21 | |
| In reply to: re: If I had to guess... - whereismikeyfl 12:54 pm EDT 09/04/21 | |
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| I’m going to have to read it again with that in mind. I don’t specifically remember Queenie getting more stage time than Hortense or Gilbert in act 2. But I agree that it has a distinctly British story to tell. That just didn’t diminish the experience for me. I felt like I learned something new while watching a universal story about family, and race, and isolation, and connection. | |
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| re: If I had to guess... | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 12:23 pm EDT 09/05/21 | |
| In reply to: re: If I had to guess... - dlittle 10:49 pm EDT 09/04/21 | |
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| The white characters do not get more stage time. But their scenes are more fully dramatized. The black characters tend to come home and report on what they experienced. Overall though, it was very much aimed at a white audience which would probably not sell as well now as it did a few years back. Seeing the broadcast with an audience including a number of Caribbean people who came wanting to love the play, it was clearly not meant for them. |
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| re: If I had to guess... | |
| Posted by: dlittle 12:56 pm EDT 09/05/21 | |
| In reply to: re: If I had to guess... - whereismikeyfl 12:23 pm EDT 09/05/21 | |
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| That’s totally fair, but also anecdotal. I’d be very curious to have a longer conversation with some people of color regarding their response to the play. Of course, that probably won’t happen here in the US because we’re most likely not going to see it produced here. | |
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| re: If I had to guess... | |
| Last Edit: whereismikeyfl 07:34 pm EDT 09/05/21 | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 07:32 pm EDT 09/05/21 | |
| In reply to: re: If I had to guess... - dlittle 12:56 pm EDT 09/05/21 | |
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| Your conversation with people of color would be just as anecdotal as mine. But you should have the conversation--it is eye opening. And when you think about it, with the playwright and director both white with not connection to Jamaican culture, it is going to be very hard for the production to overcome a "white" p.o.v. Perhaps they expected the novelist to be more involved, not knowing she would be too ill to. I was trying to learn more about the production, and found this. It brings up some of the issues with the second act. I reminded me of the intensely dramatic situations in Hortense and Gilbert's story....which are described rather than dramatized. |
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| Link | Review: Small Island at National Theatre |
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| Another view | |
| Posted by: whereismikeyfl 07:37 pm EDT 09/05/21 | |
| In reply to: re: If I had to guess... - whereismikeyfl 07:32 pm EDT 09/05/21 | |
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| Here is another interesting writer. You can feel the balance between pleasure and frustration just like the other posted reviewer had. | |
| Link | Shades of Noir |
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| re: Another view | |
| Posted by: dlittle 09:23 pm EDT 09/05/21 | |
| In reply to: Another view - whereismikeyfl 07:37 pm EDT 09/05/21 | |
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| I have had conversations with people of color, students, but I chose not to bring them up here BECAUSE they’re anecdotal. However, that does not diminish your valid points. And I read both reviews. I am a cis gendered, white male…so I don’t feel comfortable arguing against any of these points. But I do think the conversation about who is allowed to tell which stories is a valid and interesting one. As a gay, male, director, should I only be allowed to direct plays about gay men? I don’t think so. But I also recognize that sexuality and race are different things. It’s all complicated. I appreciate what the first reviewer said in terms of the production being thrilling, and telling an important story, but still feeling like something was missing because of the POV of the play and its creators. It just becomes incredibly complicated when it’s such an epic story that incorporates aspects of race, and gender roles, and historical context. There is no one person who can properly address every issue the play touches on from a personal perspective. | |
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