Attended:            February 15, 2011

Opened:               February 1, 2011

Location:             MTC @ City Center Stage 1

Length:                125 Minutes (w/ 15 Minute Intermission)

Closes:                  April 10, 2011

When slavery is spoken about, often mention is made of how part of the culture that helped get those enslaved through that terrible time was spirituality.  Spirituals, of course, from that era are still reflected in Gospel music. That Christian idea of spirituality was probably not something that the ancestors originally brought to this country would have been familiar with, for it was something that owners and traders introduced to their slaves.  The Whipping Man takes an interesting look at the idea of spirituality coming from the ruling class, as a wounded solider and his family’s two former slaves celebrate Passover together in the aftermath of Emancipation and the Confederate surrender at Appomattox.

Alone in his former master’s house in Richmond, Simon has returned from several months working at a Confederate hospital.  He has come back, after Emancipation, to await the return of his wife and daughter.  Looters are ravaging the city, and Simon welcomes Caleb, the returning son of the household, with a drawn rifle.  After realizing whom it is, Simon finds out Caleb has been shot in the leg, and the wound has become gangrenous.  After John, a younger slave of the household returns from some of his own looting, they go about the task of removing the leg to stop the infection.

This moment, when the leg is tourniqueted and the amputation begins, is one of the few scenes in the show that are truly engaging.  The realism of a knife, and then saw, going into the leg was squirm inducing, but its power on the audience was visceral.  Similarly in the second act, when Simon insists on putting on a make shift Seder the result is enthralling.  Watching the three men, who have now spilled some secrets, sit around and celebrate the Exodus, in immediate relation to Emancipation, is one of those historical moments that must have happened, but is rarely talked about.  Simon intermixes readings of the Haggadah with verses from “Go Down Moses”, to startling effect.  Unfortunately these two scenes, with all their power, cannot lift the play totally from its many soapy elements.

Matthew Lopez’s play, despite its interesting lead plot, is infected with every other cliché imaginable from the period.  Without going into explicit spoilers, a fair amount of interracial pregnancy and betrayal play into plot, and the titular character is invoked in a great monologue by John, but the end of the story is obvious a mile away.  Doug Hughes has done his best with the production, which is gorgeously designed by John Lee Beatty, Cathereine Zuber, and Ben Stanton.  The world feels right, but with the script’s moments of daytime drama, it looks like it was designed by HBO and then run on ABC at noon.

Andre Braugher, as Simon, has the major role here, and he shines in the latter moments of the play, running the Seder and charging into the emotional climax.  However he seems a bit mannered earlier in the play, and takes a while to settle in, even seeming a bit shaky on lines the night I attended.  Jay Wilkinson is fine as Caleb, stuck sedentary in a chair after his early amputation.  The star of the evening was Andre Holland, who has stolen every show I’ve seen him in.  His monologue about the whipping man, even with its contrivances, is a high point.  He only falters in moments when the script fails.

Overall, The Whipping Man has some terrific scenes, some strong acting, and is great to look at, but the script is definitely elevated by the production, and not all of its faults can be hidden.

Grade: B-

-D