All photos by Joan Marcus.
By Geary Danihy
As the old ad campaign says, “You
don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s,” and you don’t have to be African
American, or Zimbabwean, for that matter, to like “Familiar,” a new play by
Danai Gurira enjoying its world premiere at the Yale Repertory Theatre. Slow to
get off the ground and just a tad ponderous and preachy in its wrap-up,
“Familiar” satisfies for most of its two acts, for it’s a familiar family saga
of emotional conflict, heartbreak, misunderstandings, rivalries and, of course,
laughter.
The play is set in suburban
Minneapolis, circa 2010, but Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, suffuses the
environment, for Marvelous Chinyaramwira (Saidah Arrika Ekulona) and her
husband Donald (Harvey Blanks), though successfully living the good life in
America -- she a biologist, he a lawyer -- are haunted by the land they once
called home, though the nature of the spirits that lurk in the dark will not
become manifest until well into the second act.
Saidah Arrika Ekulona and Harvy Blanks
The play, directed by Rebecca
Taichman, opens with the couple’s younger daughter, Nyasha (Shyko Amos),
returning home from a trip to Zimbabwe .
She has an attitude, primarily because her domineering mother doesn’t seem to appreciate
her life pursuits – music and feng shui – but also because she hasn’t been
included in her older sister’s bridal party. Tendikayi (Cherise Boothe), a
lawyer, is about to marry Chris (Ross Marquand), a white man. It will be a
traditional ceremony, but the question arises as to which tradition will be
honored, for Annie (Kimberly Scott), Marvelous’s sister, has traveled from
Zimbabwe ostensibly to see that Shona traditions are honored, which includes
the groom gifting the bride’s family with a cow. There are a lot of arguments,
and some of what is being argued about is lost because the actors often bite
into each other’s lines (a directorial decision?), lines which often contain
word or phrases from the Shona language. One can understand why Baba Tendi (Dad)
just shrugs and retreats – there are moments when the audience, as well, simply
doesn’t know what is going on.
Observing and archly commenting on
this multi-lingual clash of cultures is Margaret (Patrice Johnson Chevannes),
Marvelous’s second sister, who lives with the Chinyaramwiras, and dragged into
the bridal negotiations overseen by Annie is Brad (Joe Tippett), Chris’s
brother, fresh out of the Army.
Ross Marquand and Cherise Boothe
So, the stage is set for
misunderstandings, family squabbles and cultural dysfunctions, which all work fairly
well for the first act and most of the second, but Gurira has bigger fish to
fry, for the dark spirits must rise, and when they do the play veers off into
message-land, becomes a bit didactic, and ends with a scene reminiscent of old
murder mysteries when the detective gathers all of the suspects into a room and
solves the crime. Thus, instead of a dynamic ending, we have extended
exposition, with many of the characters locked in place (Nyasha all but
disappears behind a sofa – Annie is frozen on another sofa – Margaret spends most
of the time shuffling her feet in front of the fireplace) as tales are told and
the mystery is unraveled. It’s all capped by what is meant to be a touching
scene of recognition between mother and daughter that rings hollow, for it is
not earned.
Shyko Amos and Joe Tippett
The basic problem here is that if a
mystery is to be solved, if revelations are to be part of the climax, then
there has to be a hint of what is in play right from the start, else said
mysteries and revelations seem forced. To work off an old Hitchcock insight that
he offered in a conversation with Francois Truffaut, if a bomb is going to
explode you have to let the audience know that a bomb has been placed. The
latter part of “Familiar” is a series of bombs exploding, but who knew they
were there? It’s the difference between suspense and surprise, and that
difference goes to audience engagement and, if I can trundle out an overused
word, catharsis.
Still, for most of the two-plus
hours, “Familiar” satisfies and engages, with a faultless cast, chief among
them Scott, whose take on the embittered Annie is often mesmerizing. She is
able to weave multiple motivations into her actions, chief among them
maintenance of heritage and greed. Her movements are precise and facial
expressions evocative. Blanks does a nice job as the much put upon husband,
only faltering slightly when he is asked to deliver one of the play’s
“messages” – you get the feeling that he really doesn’t believe what his
character is saying, especially since Baba Tendi so easily gives up his dream
after a tongue-lashing from Marvelous. As the engaged couple, Boothe and
Marquand work well together – although Tendi’s desperate demands for sex after
one of the “bombs” has exploded seems out of character – and Ekulona’s
Marvelous is a picture-perfect take on a matriarch under siege.
All in all, you get the feeling
that Gurira had a change of heart about what her play was about or, equally
likely, learned what her play was about as she wrote the ending. If the latter
is the case, then some rewriting of the first act is in order – you shouldn’t
let the audience think it is visiting the Jeffersons
and then shift into the land of the Lomans. For it all to work, the audience
has to know the bombs are ticking.
“Familiar” runs through Feb. 21.
For tickets or more information call 203-432-1234 or go to www.yalerep.org.
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