SHUT DOWN SLAVE PLAY — Page 3

ColorTheHours048 said: "The OP may not have seen the show and may just be throwing around the “shut it down” refrain blindly, but it’s also clear some of you failed the read the petition writer’s reasons for objecting to the play."

I started reading it, but then it seemed to get a bit spoilery about a show I didn't see, so I didn't want to know too much before I see it (if I see it). But if a show has content that people find offensive, do we know whether that could be what the author intended? Ultimately, if a show traffics in bad ideas and offensive stereotypes without any specific intent but spewing nonsense, one would hope it wouldn't get produced, sell many tickets, or find an audience.

Ironically, this pushback would more likely intrigue people to go see what the fuss is about, rather than inspire the producers to cancel the run.

haterobics said: "ColorTheHours048 said: "The OP may not have seen the show and may just be throwing around the “shut it down” refrain blindly, but it’s also clear some of you failed the read the petition writer’s reasons for objecting to the play."

I started reading it, but then it seemed to get a bit spoilery about a show I didn't see, so I didn't want to know too much before I see it (if I see it). But if a show has content that people find offensive, do we know whether that could be what the author intended? Ultimately, if a show traffics in bad ideas and offensive stereotypes without any specific intent but spewing nonsense, one would hope it wouldn't get produced, sell many tickets, or find an audience.

Ironically, this pushback would more likely intrigue people to go see what the fuss is about, rather than inspire the producers to cancel the run."

I think the friction between controversy and open discussion is exactly the purpose of the play, but I can also see that *how* that conversation is carried out could strike some folks as transgressive. Is the play racist? No. Is it offensive? Depends how easily offended you are. It’s all a matter of opinion, frankly.

I guess the point of my post is that the OP and the petition writer are welcome to their opinion, but the outrage over the play’s subject matter is sort of part and parcel to how it got written and produced in the first place.

I'm so, so glad stan Twitter doesn't know about this production yet. They won't know what to do about it except shriek.

So looks like this didn't work? lol.

Bwaydreamer3 said: "But again I think the petioner went in there, got offended by one thing and was unable to let it go for the rest of the show. The point of the show is not to depict the real life of slavery. Its literally not, so first we need to get that out of our heads. Second, if the white audience is laughing that sounds like a problem with the audience, not the play. The playwright said himself this is a comedic play that is suppose to make the audience uncomfortable. So should you be surprised at laughing... probably not. As a black woman I see things all the time that that offend the very being of who I am...but only when they say they are something and prove themselves another. This play never says its an accurate depication of slavery and for that matter you can be offened but you cannot be mad at what it does. Because it never said it was that to begin with. (Hopefully I'm making sense"

 

Very well put.

I saw the play the other night. It went to a place that I was not expecting even knowing a bit about the use of slavery in the show.  When I left, slavery was on my mind but not in the forefront. This play is about more than that. It is hard to talk about it without giving things away.

I agree, this woman was struck by something, most likely in Act I, that she couldn't let go of. Unfortunately that probably stopped her from understanding what was really going on. 

I am seeing it again with a black female friend in a few weeks. I want to be with her when she sees it. I suspect her reaction will not be the same but that she will get what the show is really saying.

Also, After seeing this and Fairview, I was a mess after Fairview and it took me a week to work through it. I found that this show, for lack of a better term, kind of tied things up at the end. I didn't have as much swirling around in my head because they just kind of lay it right out there. That is what I think is making people uncomfortable. Just my opinion/observation.

 

Dolly80 said: "Troy do you wanna elaborate on Whoopi ‘walking out’ again please?"

I will not wait for Troy to elaborate:

1. The house manager was not going to let her stay in the theatre after everyone else had left.

2. She did not get so drunk backstage that they had to carry her out or, worse yet, put her on a stretcher.

Case solved. Matter closed.

Plays are not "shut down" because anyone or everyone is offended. This one is no exception. It's almost parody outrage to read of petitions and angry objections supposedly inspiring a cessation of performances. This piece raises many questions, but as two black friends in theater say, the discomfort here for many is the play being performed in a traditional white space: Broadway. Most of the audiences are 90+% white, so that the content lands in a very white cultural environment. People squirm. It's not a feel-good entertainment, and shouldn't have to be, but it's all enhanced by this venue. I'm not sure that's a bad thing, shaking up white space. But then I'm white and male. My privilege informs my idea of "shaking up." Two black women I know felt this aspect was troubling.   

For the record, my issues with the play are all craft-specific. I subjectively believe it could accomplish what it sets out to do with more sleight of hand if it were 30 minutes shorter. Its middle feels bloated and repetitive, and we wait for things to wrap up. This windy self-indulgence has nothing whatsoever to do with the content, but the length (2 hours 10 minutes when I saw it) it does make the wildly erratic tone shifts harder to buy.  I just wish it were 90 taught minutes. It would still offend, but we might be more stunned by the ways the play manipulates us. I felt the machinery creaking, which is too bad.  The ideas are too complex, and we shouldn't be thinking about our watches. 

Updated On: 11/30/19 at 09:54 AM

dramamama611 said: "So is this going to turn into The Scotsboro Boys? Ruined by people that only have a knee jerk reaction to what a small minority might feel? I can't fault the woman that started it, as I believe she's simply relying on her feelings and if she feels offended, the material is offensive.(her truth)

I can't speak to the piece, not having seen it. However, how widespread can her opinion be if there hasn't been other discussion of this before now? Or have I missed that?"

I was going to say the same thing! Saw the Scottsboro Boys and it was a brilliant show. There was a group of protesters outside the theatre, none had seen the show. I ran into John Cullum at the Irish Rep shortly after the showw closed. He told me that the protesters were invited to see the show during one of it's last performances. He said they were visibly shaken at the end of the show. Obviously the terms Mistral Show and Black Face causes a knee jerk reaction. Little did the protesters know it was black actors applying burnt cork to their faces at the end to appear blacker, like many back actors had to do during specific period in time.

 I have not see this show, but I do believe it is suffering the same fate.