A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller
Roundabout Theatre Company
American Airlines Theatre on 42nd Street
Score: A-
Charles Fuller’s “A Soldier’s Play,” currently receiving its
first Broadway production in a revival by Roundabout Theater, won the Pulitzer
Prize in 1982. Plays about the African
Americans were pretty rare on Broadway in 1982 and most plays about and by Black
people were usually produced by “specialty” theatre companies. “Soldier’s Play” was first produced by the
Negro Ensemble Company, a theater producer and educator that still thrives.
Last year, another play by an African American playwright
won the Pulitzer Prize. As I reflected after seeing Fuller’s
near 40-year-old portrayal of Black men in the military during World War II,
I could not stop thinking about last year’s Pulitzer winner, Jackie Sibblies Drury’s insightful and very disturbing “Fairview.” The
two plays could not be more different.
However, the way that each dealt with the audience’s role in assessing
intra- as well as inter-racial issues haunted me.
Set in Fort Neil, Louisiana, in 1944, Fuller’s
play is a commentary on the oppression of Black men by a white society that, in
the 1940s, would not even allow them to risk their lives in the company of White
men. While Fuller portrays the
unrestrained racism of White “superior” officers, he also weaves a complex
“whodunit” murder mystery around issues of intra-racism. His very well
constructed plot reveals each soldier with a different sense of self, their
place in society (positive and negative), and, the level to which they desire
or reject “whiteness.”
Ms. Drury’s play could not be more
different on the surface. At first, in
the style of a situation comedy, we see an African American middle-class family
preparing to celebrate the birthday of an elder. In the second part of the play, the Black
actors repeat the same scene as four White actors enter the scene commenting
on, and eventually disrupting, the Black actors around a game that asks, “What
race do you want to be?.” Finally, the main character comes down stage and
orders the White members of the audience to leave their seats and come on stage
while the people of color in the audience (and the cast) sit in the audience
viewing them.
Much has been written about the power
and controversy surrounding Ms. Drury’s awaking of her audience to the
difference between viewing and being viewed.
And that is why I had such a strange reaction to the “Soldier’s Play”
revival. It is easy for a white New
Yorker to disassociate him- or herself from the bold racism of the White
characters in Mr. Fuller’s play. So, we
are left to respond to the intra-racial issues that he so deftly raises. We fall into the trap of using our White
sensitivities to evaluate and even judge the complexities of a Black soldier’s
experience in what seems to be a long-ago but disturbingly contemporary set of
circumstances. As observers, how should
we respond? We, who are not Black; who can only perceive a play with our White
perceptions.
Were there not commentaries going on in
our heads not unlike the White intruders in Ms. Drury’s play? Are those internal remarks our imposition of
our view in lieu of our ability to fully understand what the Black couple
sitting in front of us was observing?
There has been no shortage of challenging plays from African American
playwrights produced on- and off-Broadway in the last few years. However, it took a very traditional well-made
play, written 40 years ago by Mr. Fuller, to stimulate my thinking about the
issues raised by Ms. Drury.
Frankly, I didn’t like “Fairview,” but
in some ways that proves Ms. Drury’s intention.
At least she made me (and my White compatriots) feel uncomfortable. By comparison, Mr. Fuller’s play made me feel
comfortable, and that disturbs me.
BTW:
The Roundabout production of “A Soldier’s Play” is near perfect. All of
the acting is top-notch, lead by David Alan Grier and Clair Underwood. Director Kenny Leon has done a good job of
balancing the racial commentary with a skillfully woven “whodunit.” The real credit for the play’s success rests
with Mr. Fuller’s commands of the elements of drama. As I stated above, even though the play
raises interesting internal commentaries, the production is comfortably enjoyable,
at least for this White viewer.
