"Slave Play" Broadway Reviews- Page 2

[AntV]

Posted: 10/17/19 at 1:05am

I saw the male nudity, but I thought there was female nudity Off-Broadway, or am I mistaken?

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 1/5/20 at 2:11am

Okay, I’m back on my room and exhausted after a full day of theater.

My matinee show today was Oklahoma! This is the second time I saw it. When I saw it back in October it was in the evening after getting very little sleep following the Madonna concert the night before. I actually nodded off for a couple of seconds during Act 1 once or twice. So I ended up respecting it, but didn’t quite love it.

Well, armed with a good night’s sleep, I absolutely loved it today. Thanks to a great Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal I got a great seat (Orchestra B 411) right behind the people seated at the tables. Last time I was on the last row of one of the center sections which offered a good overall view. While there is probably no bad seat at CITS, certain sections offer pros and cons and different vantage points. I loved my seat. It offered great proximity to the action. Only occasionally did one actor block me being able to see another actor(s) momentarily. Also, sometimes it was difficult to make out dialogue, but this was rare, I don’t recall this being an issue last time.

From my vantage pint I was able to appreciate even more and take in the nuanced and powerful performances Damon Daunno, Rebecca Naomi Jones, and Patrick Vaill are giving. I know there has been some criticism of RNJ, but I love her interpretation of Laurey. If I wasn’t so tired I might go into further detail, but just suffice it to say that I think her performance fits perfectly in this revival. Daunno is giving a perfectly calibrated performance and those vocal flourishes he adds are simply amazing. And all I’ll say about Vaill is after Jud kissed the bride (Lauey) then approached Curly with his gift, I saw a tear roll off his cheek and hit the floor. To give such a committed performance thus far into the run is amazing to me. We had Sasha Hutchins as Ado Annie. She was great and brought a different interpretation than Ali whose interpretation I still adore. Gabrielle Hamilton performed the dream ballet. For some reason, I thought we had someone else who was the lead dancer last time, but I looked at the understudy’s pic and I know we didn’t have the understudy.

I bought the windowcard this time. Last time I bought the program and the mug/keychain/magnet bundle. I stage doored and got my windowcard signed and Daunno, Mitch Tebo, and Sasha Hutchings came out. I told Daunno I was sure he knew he could do all those amazing things with his voice but if the show had helped him discover things he could do with this voice and he said that he in fact I knew he could do those things beforehand and the show had encouraged him to experiment and use some of those flourishes.

Celebrity sighting: As I entered the venue, Ethan Hawke was at the box office and later he entered the theater and appeared to be sitting and watching the show with his three daughters. He seem to be having a great time. Also, at intermission my seatmates pointed out Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) from Stranger Things was in the audience. As he was sitting right across from me, I glanced a couple times and saw he was also having a great time.

Evening show was Slave Play. First off, I didn’t hate it. It made me uncomfortable which I expected and I’m not just talking about my orchestra seat’s limited leg room which could give the rear mezzanines at Richard Rodgers and Studio 54 some competition. My knees were screaming throughout. I was so happy to stand after two hours. But back to the play itself. Due to the spoiler in the off-Broadway review I already knew the surprise in Act 2 that reveals the context of Act 1 so that maybe changed how I viewed it. I didn’t laugh nearly as much as many in the theater although I could see how others would find humor in it. At one point, during Act 1, a man (who I admit I presumed to be a person of color) a few rows behind me asked (loud enough to reach my ears) why any of this was funny. I sympathized with him. It’s a good question. It’s pretty obviously written to elicit laughs then maybe for that laughter to Indict the audience as the play unfolds. I also sat next to an African American woman from Queens. She was the only POC in our row wedged in the middle of the row. I never sensed her laughing once and she checked her phone a few times and she didn’t give it a standing ovation. For all the talk about this play making white people uncomfortable, I think it probably is just as unsettling for POC in the audience, especially to hear white people laughing at stereotypes and racist behavior of the characters especially in Act 1. I’m still unpacking what I saw. I know some hated the therapists and found them inauthentic. But as someone who comes out of the mental health profession, I can say there are a lot of mental health “professionals” out there practicing ill advised “therapy” based on junk science. That final act was shocking in how it concluded. I initially didn’t like it but I’m not sure we’re supposed to. I’m still unpacking it. I think Harris is saying with that final act (and thus the whole play) that all this “processing”.and conversation about race and racism really accomplishes very little in moving the needle. In the time of Trump, it’s hard to argue with that. But then again, maybe the point he’s making with the play is we need to have more authentic conversations and not just one conversation and then that way maybe this play is just the start of the conversation or just one conversation of many that need to happen in this country. It would be interesting to see him continue and maybe do a series of plays exploring this topic Anyway, that’s where I am at now. I obviously can’t speak for Harris, but I don’t think he’s saying with this play and Act 3 that all white people are capable of acts of violence. But who knows where I’ll end up at. I have felt like a ping pong ball since leaving the theater. I usually buy windowcards for shows I enjoy if I enjoy the show and the poster art intrigues me. Walking into the theater, I already liked the windowcard art, but waited to see how I felt after the play. I ended up not purchasing, but as I was walking toward the 50th street station, I started regretting it and thought about going back but my tiredness, the rain and cold, and my knees convinced me to keep heading toward the subway. This is sort of like Oklahoma! was for me in October. I respected it then, but didn’t quite love it. Who knows. Maybe if I saw Slave Play again I’d love it like I love Oklahoma! now. Not sure I could sit through it again though.

I’m fading fast, but a few last thoughts. Great, great cast. I don’t know how they give such powerful, naked (sometimes literally) performances night after night. I’m still thinking about it which is not true of many shows I see. Just because it disturbed me, doesn’t mean it was bad. (It’s not bad). This is the antithesis of TKAM which I saw (and liked) on my previous trip. TKAM extends the white savior narrative and sends the audience home feeling good and progressive on a cloud of platitudes even though the black guy dies. Slave Play doesn’t let the audience off that easy. It doesn’t pull its punches. You gotta respect that at least.

Lastly, about cellphone use this trip so far. Lots of announcements at all the shows about turning your phone off. And didn’t hear one phone go off during The Sound Inside or during Oklahoma!, but heard a few cellphone notifications during Act 1 of Slave Play. There probably was less emphasis about turning your cell phones off before SP began, but we were told when we entered the theater to turn our cell phones off.

Oh, one more thing. When I was talking to the lady at the merchandise booth, she said that’s SP is closing tomorrow (Sunday) but when I looked on the TKTS app and the BroadwayBox app it still says it’s closing January 19. Anybody know what’s up with that?

[smidge]

Posted: 1/5/20 at 1:09pm

Miles, Slave Play does close on the 19th. The merch person must have been confused with all the other closings happening today, lol.

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/14/20 at 10:44pm

I finally saw Slave Play in it s closing week. Holy s__t what an amazing theatrical experience. This is undoubtedly the best new play I've seen in ... maybe ever.

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2020/01/slave-play-spoilers.html

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/15/20 at 1:41pm

Also the million dollar question:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Did Kaneisha want it at the end? 

 

[Valentina3]

Posted: 1/15/20 at 2:40pm

poisonivy2 said: "Also the million dollar question:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Did Kaneisha want it at the end?

"

I want to understand that too. What was playwright's intent? It seemed to open to interpretation and one quabble I had with the show. I don't think I fully understood the conclusion.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 1/15/20 at 3:09pm

Valentina3 said: "poisonivy2 said: "Also the million dollar question:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Did Kaneisha want it at the end?

"

I want to understand that too. What was playwright's intent? It seemed to open to interpretation and one quabble I had with the show. I don't think I fully understood the conclusion."

My perception was:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

She absolutely didn’t want it, but out of fear for her own safety, she went along with it. And then at the end when she says thank you for listening, I think that can be interpreted more than one way. One is she’s saying to him thank you for listening even though it’s quite clear that he didn’t listen at all and it still going to proceed as usual or even worse, ignoring her needs and wants. Everything that’s happened before somehow in his mind is giving him permission to act in ways that he always wanted to act. The other way of interpreting her saying thank you for listening is she is saying that to the audience.  

This was by no means an enjoyable experience for me. It was the most uncomfortable two hours I’ve ever spent in a theater. And I don’t know that I could do it again, but there’s no mistaking that it’s provoking lots of conversation and interpretations which means it can’t be dismissed wholeheartedly. 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 1/15/20 at 3:16pm

I would bet money that Harris intended for it to be ambiguous, so the audience left with different impressions.  I had a different interpretation than you, Miles2Go2, but I can honestly say that I don't know why I reached that conclusion.  

I mentioned this in another post, but I went with two other people to see The Sound Inside, and each of us reached a different conclusion re the ending.  I always consider that a plus.  Gave us plenty to talk about.

 

 

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 1/15/20 at 3:20pm

Jarethan said: "I would bet money that Harrisintended for it to be ambiguous, so the audience left with different impressions. I had a different interpretationthan you, Miles2Go2, but I can honestly say that I don't know why I reached that conclusion.

I mentioned this in another post, but I went with two other people to see The Sound Inside, and each of us reacheda different conclusion re the ending. I always consider that a plus. Gave us plenty to talk about.”

I’d love to hear your interpretations of both please. Either here or if you were willing to PM me.

"

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/15/20 at 3:35pm

Jarethan said: "I would bet money that Harrisintended for it to be ambiguous, so the audience left with different impressions. I had a different interpretationthan you, Miles2Go2, but I can honestly say that I don't know why I reached that conclusion.

I mentioned this in another post, but I went with two other people to see The Sound Inside, and each of us reacheda different conclusion re the ending. I always consider that a plus. Gave us plenty to talk about.
 

 

"

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

I thought it was meant to be ambiguous but when he asked her whether he could go ahead she nodded ... and the ppl around me thought that she did want that violent fantasy played out.

 

[Rosette3]

Posted: 1/15/20 at 9:08pm

poisonivy2 said: "Also the million dollar question:

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Did Kaneisha want it at the end?

"

Short answer: yes. 

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

When I saw the last scene I interpreted it as her being in on it and wanting it. When she pulled away the way I heard it was her crying turned into a deep almost evil like cackle when she slid down and "broke" out of her character back to reality in almost a "hah I win" kind of way towards her husband. Contrary to the slave/master role playing scene in Act 1 where he pretty much chicken out and selfishly ended the scene early with the safe word "Starbucks" (I died lol) he stuck it through and followed through in Act III. For once he finally fully gave himself to her when he put her desires and needs first, pass his own discomfort and hesitation. He accepted her when he accepted what she needed to feel pleasure and why she said "Thank You" in the end. Regardless of how werid her "kink" (for lack of a better word) came off or how hard it was to accept, I interpreted it as something she wanted it even if it was more intense than what she expected out of in him. 

I was actually surprised to read audience reviews claiming rape (though I definitely understand how some could interpret it that way). Even though it was rough and hard to watch it was not how I perceived it between her agreeing to it coupled with her reaction afterwards. I mean... I admit I even laughed after the scene before I realized it was the end. Internally I was cheering for her giving her " YASS Queen!" snaps "show him who is NOW the boss" etc. 

For the life of me I can't remember where I read it but there was an opinion piece where author made parallels to BDSM culture, dominance and submission etc. That definitely opened my perspective more and though I have a limited familiarity with the subject I'm very curious to see if anyone else made similar connections. 

 

Updated On: 1/15/20 at 09:08 PM

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/15/20 at 9:25pm

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

That was my take too. FWIW this might be TMI as someone who is a "sub," I can tell you that in BDSM the sub is actually "in charge." It's the sub who decides what he or she wants done, and who controls the situation. It's hard for those who aren't into BDSM to get this but I felt like she finally got the kind of sexual kink fantasy she was craving. The question is whether their marriage can get back on track or not. 

Anyway I thought the acting was across the board excellent and I hope this play gets lots of Tony noms and wins. 

[Rosette3]

Posted: 1/15/20 at 10:44pm

poisonivy2 said: "

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

That was my take too. FWIW this might be TMI as someone who is a "sub," I can tell you that in BDSM the sub is actually "in charge." It's the sub who decides what he or she wants done, and who controls the situation. It's hard for those who aren't into BDSM to get this but I felt like she finally got the kind of sexual kink fantasy she was craving. The question is whether their marriage can get back on track or not.

Anyway I thought the acting was across the board excellent and I hope this play gets lots of Tony noms and wins.

​​​Thanks for the validation haha. I feel werid sigh of relief I wasn't out in left field with my interpretation. I want to see the play get Tony noms and wins too. 

Anywho the article I referenced was actually an interview with Jeremy O Harris in American Theater magazine. It contains major spoilers but a really great interview with a lot of insights behind the play. Slave Play's full text was published in the July/August 2019 print edition and back issues are available for purchase. 

https://www.americantheatre.org/2019/07/01/slave-play-racism-doesnt-have-a-safe-word/

tl:dr

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Excerpt from interview on BDSM Dom/sub relationship. Interviewer Tonya Pickins in bold: 

Absolutely. When I saw the play I wanted to write an essay called “White Supremacy 101.”
Why was that?

I felt that the play captured a very specific dynamic of what supremacy is. Because you had white people and Black people, it was white supremacy. Look, we’re going to go into some BDSM talk now: The dominant person in a BDSM scenario is actually the sub. The sub has all the control. The sub has the ability to say “more” or “less” or “stop.” And in a supremacist relationship, the supremacist wants to have the agency to decide when they’re sub and when they’re dom, and the other party doesn’t get to choose at all; they must just respond to what the other person is doing. So in that sense, the supremacist is always a sub pretending to be a dominant, but always requiring the other person to meet their needs, whether it’s the need to look up to me as if I’m the person in control, or the need to console and guide me. I felt that the play really captured that.
Thank you. That rocks me in my stomach, because I felt like that was a major conversation that was being missed. People think we’re in a really sex-positive moment right now, and yet we 100 percent are not. A lot of the response to the play, good or bad, seemed to immediately delete the sexual dynamics from the discourse outside of either saying it was “provocative” or “salacious.” No one talked about the fact that sexual dynamics can actually be really illuminating about dynamics that we have all the time, you know?

Yeah!
Also, this shouldn’t be that provocative to an audience who all have incognito windows up on their phone at different hours of the day. If you look at Pornhub’s demographics in New York, one of the most popular porn categories is “ebony” porn. And porn about sexual violence is really popular. So if people are allowing that to exist in their private fantasy life, why is it so weird that someone would put that in a theatre and have you process that communally?

Well, that’s the American Puritanism. So let’s talk about the sex.
Yeah! Let’s do it!

I felt like the character Kaneisha was living my life. You have these white men who run the world, but when they come home, they want someone to run them, boss them around. She was saying, “No, I actually want you to sub me. I need you to do this to me.” What made him supremacist was that he could not even, for her sexual pleasure, do that thing she asked of him because it messed with his sense of who he was. Is that true? Is that what you wrote?
I think that’s at the core of all three couples: the inability to listen to a Black person. I grew up as one of the only Black kids at the school I went to, and then I went to a theatre conservatory where I was one of the four Black men that they let into a 52-person class, at a school where Black students every year for as long as Black students have been going to DePaul University had been asking to do more work that looked like them, and every year they weren’t listened to. So I think that part of the energy of this play was looking at something like BDSM dynamics as not even liberatory but just illuminating about the dynamic that I felt I’d seen in my life from every type of white person I interacted with, and dynamics I’ve seen in other people’s lives consistently. Because as anyone who is at all familiar with how any type of BDSM work knows, listening is the No. 1 thing. You have to be listening or you won’t hear the safe word. So I wanted to put listening at the core of the dramaturgy of this play.

Right, and that’s what I saw. The dom is the servant, and the dom must listen, look, see, and do whatever the sub requires. The white people in this play were not very good doms.
No, they’re not.

 

 

 

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/15/20 at 10:50pm

Thank you for that interview! What he says squares up with what i thought.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/16/20 at 1:56am

My spies say they taped tonight's show, presumably for the Lincoln Center archives?

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 1/16/20 at 2:02am

haterobics said: "My spies say they taped tonight's show, presumably for the Lincoln Center archives?"

Yep. There were articles published about it all day today! 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 1/16/20 at 10:30am

This play isn't my cup of tea anyway, but a colleague of mine (who is a Tony voter) described it as "amateur hour." Yikes.

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/16/20 at 5:18pm

Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "This play isn't my cup of tea anyway, but a colleague of mine (who is a Tony voter) described it as "amateur hour." Yikes."

Oh whatever. This play is magnificent. The Tony this year for Best Play will be such a hot contest. The Inheritance, The SOund Inside, and Slave Play could all make a strong case.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 1/16/20 at 5:30pm

And don’t forget we still have The Minutes and The Lehman Trilogy coming up! It will definitely be an interesting year for the Play category.

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/16/20 at 6:21pm

Miles2Go2 said: "And don’t forget we still have The Minutes and The Lehman Trilogy coming up! It will definitely be an interesting year for the Play category."

Yeah Lehman Trilogy and The Minutes will definitely add to an already crowded field. I honestly think Slave Play was the game changing play this year though. 

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/27/20 at 10:36pm

Really great interview with the cast that talks about the ending:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/theater/slave-play-broadway-interviews.html

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 1/27/20 at 11:20pm

After seeing the play, I definitely had one idea about the ending as well as the possible messages of the play overall. Then after, reading this plus another interview, it’s clear Harris’s intention was pretty much polar opposite than what I thought. I found the play interesting even if I didn’t ultimately love it. It was the most uncomfortable two hours I’ve ever spent in a theater. That doesn’t mean I hated it either. There are certainly things to admire such as the stage design and the committed performances from all the actors and the playwright’s willingness to explore difficult topics even if I think things get a little muddled at times. I do find the apparent message of Act 3 pretty perplexing. One one hand I get it and on another I another I find it discomforting which i suspect is just the way Harris would want it.

[poisonivy2]

Posted: 1/28/20 at 7:43pm

The night I went most everyone in the audience that I was talking to thought that Kaneisha wanted it. I thought it was extremely ambiguous but leaned that way too. I actually was less uncomfortable than I expected. I thought the acting and writing was so well done that I always felt like I was watching real humans onstage and that the play is about how messy and toxic relationships are.

[BWAY Baby2]

Posted: 1/28/20 at 8:42pm

Lehman Trilogy directed by Sam Mendes- of Ferryman and 1917 for starters- could be another hit and Best Play winner.

[jdrye222]

Posted: 1/30/20 at 5:15am

Everything was intended to be ambiguous, as far as I could tell - the entire point of the play is that there IS NO RIGHT ANSWER.  We are all different. We need to stop trying to pretend that we are not different, and instead LISTEN to each other. 

What I took from the last scene is that she NEEDED it (despite what either wanted), and he WENT there, and she thanked him, even though it seemed pretty certain they'd never go there again. I found Joaquina K's performance throughout the play, but especially that last scene, to be one of the best I've ever witnessed.  The journey she had to go on in that final act was immense and quite difficult to accomplish on the best of days as an actor.  If she is not seriously considered for the Tony, I don't understand what we are supposed to think is good acting anymore.

Updated On: 1/30/20 at 05:15 AM