My Master, My Slave, My Friend
My Master, My Slave, My Friend
By J.D. Sutton
Featuring Jim Braswell and J. D. Sutton
Yellow Venue
The 2016 Orlando International Fringe Festival
Orlando, FL</strong>
Race relation in the United States posed problems from the very birth of the nation. Even one of the most progressive men of the day, Thomas Jefferson (Sutton) was ambivalent: he opposed slavery yet owned many. He even considered one, Jupiter (Braswell,) his best friend yet had him do errands and clean his boots and tend his visitor’s horses. In this gripping and tension charged show Jefferson puts Jupiter on stage to a crowd of abolitionists (us, the audience) and allows him to speak freely. Their views differ significantly; Jupiter reports Jefferson’s friends struck him for “looking at them wrong” while Jefferson denies such a thing could happen. We discover Virginia was relatively progressive; there slave were legally allowed the right to read scripture, but not to write lest they forge emancipation papers. Jefferson proposes a way to wind down slavery by shipping blacks back to Africa gradually; Jupiter points out he has no more ties to African culture the Jefferson himself. This belief was common in the day, even Lincoln subscribed to it.
If you’ve seen any of Sutton’s one man Jefferson shows, this one is much stronger. The gulf between these men is deep and unreconciled; Braswell even debates an option he had to stay in France which did not recognize slavery, or return to Virginia. He returns reasoning he had done as well for himself as a salve as he would do free. The depressing point becomes the thought he’s probably right, given the times. These are finely drawn people on this stage, each man is a progressive in his mind, bother men realize the inherent evil of the situation, but only one must bear the brunt of injustice without a channel to decry it publically. Do not miss this exhilarating performance.
This commentary was prepared from a technical rehearsal.
This show was presented as part of the 2016 Orlando Fringe Festival for show times, tickets and more information please visit . http://orlandofringe.org/
