Shotgun
Shotgun By John Biguenet
Directs by David Karl Lee
Orlando Shakespeare Theatre, Orlando, FL</strong>
When your city washes away with the rest of your life, there are compromises to be made. Hurricane Katrina left the very white Beau (Rus Blackwell) and his son Eugene (Brandon Peters) homeless to the point of renting half a shotgun house on the wrong side of the river. That’s where things are even worse -blacks are so desperate they must rent to whites. The good news is Beau is a credit to his race – trustworthy, pays his rent on time, he only sings depressing hillbilly songs on Sunday mornings. His landlady Mattie (Chantal Jean-Pierre) takes a shine to him and brings him a buttermilk pie even though Eugene, her father Dexter (Dennis Neal) and her ex Willie (Barry White) do NOT think this a healthy friendship. Friendship is the least of their worries, miscegenation is in the air but nothing they can do will stop it. Beau is hung in the past; he takes responsibility for the death of his wife. She drown when the levee broke and half the town figured out what “below sea level” really means. Things stay static until Dex takes Eugene aside and teaches him how to leverage his efforts to get what he wants – a return to his home, or what’s left of it. The Dex/Eugene plot succeeds: Eugene learns how to get his way without whining, Willie gets a real job, and Dexter keeps his principles pure even if he’s still sleeping on a bedrock hard couch in the front room.
Blazing acting and a spectacular set paper over some oddities in this subtle and realistic story. It’s hard to point fingers at who trumps who – Neal mixes Red Foxx racism with the practiced art of manipulating everyone he touches. His mix of guilt, bluster, and righteous indignation at how life has treated him controls everyone except Beau. He also gets all the laughs. Blackwell’s Beau is the most pleasant, self-effacing, hard worker you ever meet, yet he tortures himself with guilt over things that no one could realistically prevent. His monologue about the death of his wife at the end of the first act will break your heart, and point out why an axe in the attic is a good idea. Jean-Pierre as Mattie is every bit as lonely as Beau, yet she looks forward rather than back – she even teaches Beau to cook, and that’s a vote of confidence from a woman if ever I saw one. Barry White is the classic glad-handing conniver, flattering and preening and looking for the unlocked door or extra plate at dinner. When his change comes, it’s quick and unexpected, and not completely believable. Even newcomer Brandon Peters was impressive as the rebel with a cause as he worries endlessly about acceptance and getting beat up as the only white boy in a 5A high school. His knife dance with this father showed his mastery of teen hormonal rage.
The set by Bob Phillips and his crew showed the continuing mechanical ingenuity of Orlando Shakespeare set designs. Arranged like a pair of bi fold doors, a clever mechanism quickly switched between a turn of the century front porch and a shabby kitchen with nary a black clad stage hand to be seen. The very real looking set complimented the very real story, and that’s my oddball complaint: nearly everybody acted as normally as possible in the circumstances, giving “Shotgun” a kitchen sink dramatic feel. Without exception, all the characters did completely realistic things – there were no obviously bad decisions, no hyper reality, and the Chekhovian knife presaged nothing. They just simple reacted to the disaster and loss, some moving forward, some stranded like a Honda on the roof after the flood receded. Disasters are everywhere, and sometimes all you can do is bury the dead, fill out the paperwork, rail at Gods and Governments and start pounding nails. Work WILL set you free, or at least push you into whatever new world lies ahead.
For more information on Orlando Shakespeare Theater, visit http://www.orlandoshakes.org
