Change can be a
good thing, but when it involves a family of another race moving into a bedroom
community in a Chicago neighbourhood nearly 60 years ago, that change can be a
source of resistance. And that sense of resistance can go into reverse in that
same house, in that same bedroom community exactly 50 years after the fact.
That’s the overall
theme of Bruce Norris’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Clybourne Park”, which is
now playing at the Centaur Theatre until April 30.
The play is divided
into two parts. The first part takes place in 1959, as Russ and Bev, a
middle-aged married couple living in Clybourne Park are about to move out of
their house. Throughout this hot Saturday as Russ and Bev are packing the last
of their boxes before the big move the following Monday, they receive a number
of visitors: Jim, the local parish priest; their friends Karl and his hearing
impaired wife Betsy; and Albert, who is picking up his wife Francine, who works
as a maid for the couple. Although the fast-paced conversations deal with a
variety of rather trivial subjects (from how Neapolitan ice cream got its to
name to geography), it eventually dissolves into a whole mess of anger and pain
when Karl raises the topic that Russ sold his house to an African American
couple (who are about to live in an all-White neighborhood), and when Jim
brings up the painful memories about Russ and Bev’s deceased son, and what lead
to his premature tragic death.
The second part
takes place 50 years later, in 2009, when a neighborhood association meets in
the same house in the same neighborhood – which is now predominantly a black
neighborhood – as they discuss the prospect of a white couple purchasing the
house in question, and how they plan to tear it down and build a new house on
the site. The conversations between the characters, like in the first half,
start off being of a trivial nature (like what really is the capital of
Morocco). But as it becomes more relevant and politically incorrect, it
dissolves into another mess of anger and pain; but this time, the ghosts of the
house’s previous owners resurface, thanks to the discovery of an old army
footlocker that was buried in the backyard.
“Clybourne Park” is
dramedy at its best, with a great deal of humour, talk, frustration and hurt
mixed into a winning formula on how people not only deal with subtle, yet radical
change, but also how they deal with their personal demons and prejudices. My favorite
part is the 1959 segment, which fondly reminded me of the sitcoms and live
dramas that were part of TV’s golden age (in fact, I was wondering where the
three 1950s TV cameras with the large CBS eye logos on the side were going to
emerge from the audience). It started like an episode of “I Love Lucy” and
ended up being a production of “Playhouse 90”. And the ensemble cast – which
had the challenge of performing two (and sometimes three) different roles – successfully
met their acting challenges with flying colours. In particular, special kudos
go out to Lisa Bronwyn Moore, whose performance as Bev in the 1959 segment as a
typical 50s housewife (complete with makeup, perfectly coiffed hair, house
dress and high heel shoes) was a wonderful combination of June Cleaver and
Edith Bunker; and Harry Standjofski as Russ, who in his loud, bombastic way,
somehow strikes a blow for civil rights as he defends his choice of whom he
sold his house to, although much to the consternation of his good friend (and
closet bigot) Karl.
For more
information, or to purchase tickets, call the Centaur box office at
514-288-3161, or go to www.centaurtheatre.com.
