Wharf 1 Theatre, February 6
8/10
Faith has been a fickle mistress for Solomon Jasper. She’s steeled his will in the fight for Civil Rights, but failed to assuage his disappointment in his sons, or prevent his leaving an illegitimate brood in his wake. So Solomon, a retired living treasure among African Americans, has turned to beekeeping. Bees, you see, know their purpose in life. So did Solomon. Once.
American playwrights have focused on dysfunctional families with gleeful zeal. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins follows the hallowed tradition of O’Neill, Williams, Miller and Albee, except he elevates the Jaspers’ dysfunctionality to the level of the grotesque.
His theatrical masterstroke is a narrator to steer us through the labyrinth of interlocking hostilities, and tease us with what’s to come. That’s Nazareth, the younger son of Solomon and his matriarchal wife Claudine – Naz to all but his father. Naz must be affable, amusing and just a little quirky because he’s neurodivergent to an unspecified degree. Tinashe Mangwana is ideal in director Zindzi Okenyo’s STC production, making credible this asexual creature who delights in solitude while photographing nature.
Naz has just donated sperm to his lesbian friend Aziza, when she drops him off at his parents place. All would have been well had she not had to return a forgotten phone charger, by which time the snow’s setting in, and Claudine insists Aziza stay.
If that sounds like the set-up for a melodrama, in part it is, for this play is a many-headed monster: questioning the purpose of life and the viability of marriage; interrogating fame, reputation and accepting one’s children. It even becomes a grim comedy.
The flaws in Okenyo’s production come when the melodrama holds too much sway, and the anger is too relentless. In all other regards, this is an exemplary production of a singular play that would swiftly expose pretenders in the cast. Okenyo’s is strong, with Markus Hamilton as the sternly patriarchal, deeply flawed Solomon. Deni Gordon plays Claudine, and while she has minor lapses, she’s convincing as the only person on earth who can lord it over Solomon.
Sisi Stringer is charismatic as the livewire Aziza, who didn’t know Naz came from this famous family, nor that his real name was Nazareth. Now she’s not so sure about his fathering of her child. Maurice Marvel Meredith excels as the elder son, Solomon Junior, a politician mired in white-collar crime, with the family assemblage celebrating his release from prison as well as Claudine’s birthday. Junior’s wife, the feisty Morgan (about to do her own time, now that Junior’s out, as they have two young boys), is brilliantly realised by Grace Bentley-Tsibuah. Morgan has wised up, before anyone else, to the Jaspers not exactly being angels of black excellence.
Jeremy Allen’s set is as lavish as the Jaspers are larger than life, and this is an auspicious start to artistic director Mitchell Butel’s STC programming.
Until March 22.