In PASS OVER, Antoinette Chinonye Nwandus "powerful and provocative" (Arifa Akbar, The Guardian) new play, Moses and Kitch talk smack, pass the time, and hope that maybe today will be different. As they dream of their promised land, a stranger wanders into their space and disrupts their plans. Evoking heartbreak, hope, and joy over its 95 minutes, PASS OVER crafts everyday profanities into poetic and humorous riffs, illuminating the unquestionable human spirit of young men looking for a way out.
We will have a pretty good idea by it either folding before it was ment to or if it finishes the run with a proclimation of recoupment, I very much am hoping for the latter
Can someone post the Times review or tell me how the ending was interpreted. Saw it on the first night back and while I enjoyed that it was left open to interpretation, I wondered if it had been made more explicit.
Has anyone taken note of Jesse Green's appropriation of the play's scripted vernacular in his review as inappropriate or not? Seems entirely unnecessary to me and would've expected this to spark a bit of controversy. Quoting the review here:
"When they try to make a list of everyone they know who has “been kilt” by the police, it takes a very long time to name them while also distinguishing their particulars. Among many others there are Ed with the dreadlocks (not light-skinned Ed), “dat tall dude got dat elbow rash,” Kev and “dat otha” Kev, Mike with “dat messed up knee.”
Is the issue with quoting from a show in a review? or the quote chosen? As to the former, that is pretty common practice, and as to the latter I would think that it the lines are in the script, there is no reason not to quote them. I am confused what's being asked exactly by the oblique question.
I suspect the original poster felt a bit uncomfortable with Green including quotes that are written in AAVE, but as Zion24 noted, he was quoting directly from Nwandu, so it would, in this case, have been problematic to change her writing. With regards to his quotations, I can see why it might have seemed uncomfortable, but I believe it's entirely appropriate.
Regardless, I'm thrilled to see this beautiful play and loving production getting some well-deserved positive reviews. Here's hoping more people go see it.
Green's review was beautiful and made me sad that I was so underwhelmed with this play (though I only saw the Amazon filmed version). Still would love a spoiler-y explanation of how the ending changed over time...