By Eva Phillips
There are fractious intersections in America’s fraught, tenuous, and often violent history, that defy readily accessible logic or confound the basic limitations of ethics and community. These intersections often reveal the commonalities of humanity—some viscerally unpleasant, some profoundly moving and resonate—exposing the basic fears, desires, insecurities, loves, and needs unlike individuals harbor.
Matthew Lopez’s Whipping Man—a title which has every intention of evoking outrage and revilement in its reference of the man in charge of physically brutalizing black individuals enslaved in antebellum America—tries to accomplish quite a bit in roughly two hours. But perhaps what is most compelling about this at times excoriating play is the examination of these intersections that complicate and trouble our conception of history.
Iron Horse Theatre Company’s adaptation of Lopez’s Obie-award winning drama is an unflinching immersion in the material that perseveres through some of the trickier moments to deliver the haunting and crucial message at Whipping Man’s core.
Days after the bloody end of the Civil War that resulted in the Confederacy’s surrender to the Union—and, more importantly, the effective emancipation of slaves in the United States—a wounded, debilitated Confederate soldier, Caleb (Jeremy Ernstoff), limps lugubriously back to his family’s home in the fallen capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. With his horse dead and his injured leg turning gangrenous, Caleb is greeted by the sight of his presumably once lavish home laid to waste—burned, ransacked, and in complete disarray. Caleb is confronted by Simon (Charles Timbers), one of Caleb’s family’s former slaves who has been with the family for most of his life, who welcomes Caleb in and demands he tend to his wounds, lest Caleb perish an awful, slow death. We are led to believe that Caleb is withholding a great deal, a sense that is only augmented when the boisterously smart John (Nick Page) appears, fresh from one his now routine “runs,” which are, effectively, break-ins at the abandoned or destroyed homes to pillage any for any food, clothing, etc. John and Caleb, who are close in age and seemingly grew up together, have a clear ineffable history, steeped in the awful past of John being owned by Caleb’s family.
As the story progresses, and the complex nuances of each man’s identity and their relationships with one another, it is revealed that Simon and John are devoutly Jewish, a product of Caleb’s family’s Judaism. Simon passionately uses traditional Jewish prayers and blessings, and is adamant that Caleb’s abnegation of his faith (which he blames on the horrors of war) is fleeting. Even John, who emphatically and rightfully questions and challenges everything–especially the power structures and moral turpitude that allowed for an institution like slavery to thrive–is adamant about following the practices pf and upholding his belief in Judaism. John, ever-vigilant of life’s many inherent contradictions, tries to get through to Caleb that his family, particularly his father, was in no way “benevolent” as slave masters (because such a thing cannot exist), and that if the family had cared more about the ethics and lessons of Judaism, they would have never possessed other humans and subjected them to the things John, Simon, Simon’s wife and daughter (who we do not meet, but are crucial to direness of the plot) were routinely subjected to.
Iron Horse ably handles this play that makes the audience sit not only with the abhorrence of slavery as a legacy (and the ways in which it persists to this day), but sit with the painful revelation that many individuals experience of not being what we presume or posture ourselves to be. The actors of Whipping Man admirably tackle an enormous script that is emotionally and ethically exhausting, as well as incredibly dense (at times, too dense). Charles Timbers is a master of the stage, and his warmth, command of material, and striking emotional range are a driving force throughout the production. In playing Simon, he is taxed with being the emotional and moral compass who is caught in a brutal web that demands he do the emotional labor for Caleb and John–something that he clearly has done their whole lives–while trying to navigate his undeniable psychological and likely physical trauma of the his own life. Timbers handles this multi-dimensional portrayal with consistent aplomb, effortlessly weaving between stalwart resoluteness and anguish throughout the story.
All three actors, Timbers, Page and Ernstoff, are incredibly gifted, especially in their ability to not let the material feel tokenizing or burdened by tropes–even when Lopez’s script veers into this territory. This also serves as a testament to Director Tom Mirth and Assistant Director Amy Ellefson’s bold sensibilities in leading their actors and creative team. The cohesiveness and dynamism as a creative unit is apparent throughout.
Scenically, the impressive work of Mirth and London Cain as Set Designers, and Cain, Doug May, and Bill Hufnagal on Set Construction have a lingering impact. Their beautifully authentic design and penchant for little details that transform the set and overall viewing experience, make Whipping Man–a play confined to one room of a derelict, gutted home–encompass worlds. Furthermore, Cain’s work on sound and lighting complements the stunning set.
The work Whipping Man does in exposing the harsh culpability of American whites in the brutality of slavery’s legacy, and the necessity of examining and deconstructing the complicated intersections we experience is crucial. And yet, as crucial as that work is, the fact that Lopez belongs to neither African American nor Jewish communities makes his creation of the work and his ability or right to use the specific intersection of communities, and identity-specific traumas and challenges of those communities to which he does not belong to make a dramaturgical teaching moment. I applaud the foresight of Iron Horse in consulting Cantor Rena Shapiro to assist in their presentation of this material. The necessary, added level of care is apparent in this production.
Whipping Man is a provocatively intense production helmed by thoughtful, talented performers and creative team, and should catalyze as much dialogue as it does applause.
Whipping Man runs at Iron Horse theater through Sept. 21. For tickets and more information, visit their site.
Categories: Archived Reviews