JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE at Berkeley Rep

(l to r) At Berkeley Rep, Barry Shabaka Henley, Kim Staunton, Don Guillory and Brent Jennings star in Delroy Lindo’s production of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone by August Wilson. Photo courtesy of kevinberne.com

JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE, written by August Wilson, directed by Delroy Lindo in association with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. Berkeley Rep, Main Season, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison Street @ Shattuck, Downtown Berkeley, 510.647.2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org . October 31–December 14, 2008

POWERFUL PLAY, EXCELLENT CAST OVERCOME PROBLAMATIC DIRECTION

It is a pity that August Wilson is not alive to witness the stunning election of Barak Obama to the Presidency of the United States. He surely would create an addendum to his monumental 10-play cycle that chronicles the African-American experience from 1904 (“Gem of the Ocean”) to 1997 (“Radio Golf”). In “Radio Golf”, the last play in the cycle, it is 1995 and his protagonist Harmond Wilks enters into politics aspiring to the first black mayor of Pittsburg.

The Lorraine Hansberry Theatre is co-producer of this production having mounted an excellent taunt version of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” 2 years ago at their now defunct San Francisco Theatre. Berkeley Rep has gathered a stunning cast, hired famed actor Delroy Lindo to direct and mounted the play on scenic designer Scott Bradley’s fantastically realistic set. In 1987, Lindo garnered a Tony Award nomination for his portrayal of the protagonist Herald Loomis and spent over two years associated with performances in the U.S.A. and London and has directed with a loving but flawed hand.

Wilson did not write his plays in chronological order and “Joe Turner’s come and Gone” is the third episode, written in 1986, again taking place in the Hill District of Pittsburg. The time is 1911, less than 50 years after the Civil War. The was a mass exodus of Blacks from the rural South to the industrial North, all searching for jobs, lost relatives or personal identity. Being familiar with other plays in the series, especially “Gem of the Ocean” would add depth to your appreciation of the play but it does stand-alone as a significant piece of the Black experience in America.

Tormented and angry Herald Loomis (Teagle F. Bougere), with Zona (Nia Renee Warren), his 11-year-old daughter in tow, is physically searching for his missing wife and spiritually for “his song” to give him an internal identity. We eventually learn that he was torn from his wife and indentured for seven tortuous years to the notorious Joe Turner (a real life brother of a Tennessee governor). They are newly arrived in Pittsburgh seeking room in the boarding house run by Seth (Barry Shabaka Henley) and Bertha (Kim Staunton) Holly. Another boarder, Bynum Walker (Brent Jennings), a mystic voodoo conjurer, sacrifices pigeons for their blood to create visions as he searches for the meaning of life. Loomis and Bynum share a mutual vision of bones arising from the sea, walking on water and arriving on land with fully formed bodies. This is a direct reference to slaves, while being transported across the Atlantic Ocean, those who died were thrown overboard.

Seth Holly, is the only character not born in the South and is intolerant of cotton-field migrants. He is a tinsmith who trades with white peddler Rutherford Selig (Dan Hiatt), who, because of his wide journeys, doubles as a finder of lost persons. Two other inhabitants of the boarding house include young, handsome, guitar playing Jeremy Furlow (Don Guillory), Mattie Campbell (Tiffany Michelle Thompson) a forlorn young woman deserted by her lover who moves in with Jeremy. Later, attractive, independent and disillusioned with men, Molly Cunningham (Erica Peoples) arrives to be swept off by Jeremy. Then there is the young neighbor Reuben Mercer (Keanu Beausier) who forms a bond with Zonia. The final character is Herald’s wife Martha (Kenya Brome) who, while also searching for her child, has found religion as her savior to rationality.

The intermingling of the diverse group is all tied to the mystic conjurer Bynum who expounds, at length, August Wilson’s philosophical viewpoints on the relationship of men and woman, whites and Blacks and more profoundly the search for Black identity and connection with their past. He inserts a religious “Juba” dance (Juba for jubilation) following a Sunday supper that has direct links to their African origin that triggers a convulsive attack in Loomis who cannot find his “spiritual legs.” It is a powerful scene. The ending is even more powerful when Loomis and Martha clash and Loomis cleanses himself with blood and finds his “song” (identity).

Lindo’s exasperating slow pacing stretches the first act to one hour and 25 minutes. He then, for inexplicable reasons, stages the touching scenes between the youngsters on the floor of the auditorium, in front of the stage, making it almost impossible to understand what their words. That being said, he gets without exception, great performances from his cast and you are drawn into the Wilson’s depiction of their world. The second act is stunning gem not to be missed.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

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