We Are Proud to Present a Presentation… at Victory Gardens Theater
★★★☆☆
Victory Gardens Theater. By Jackie Sibblies Drury. Dir. Eric Ting. With ensemble cast. 1hr 30mins; no intermission.
This mostly compelling new piece of metatheater, born of Victory Gardens’ Ignition festival, works a multilayered task. Six young actors—importantly, three black, three white—say they have for us a presentation on the systematic extermination of the Herero tribe of southwest Africa (what is now the republic of Namibia) by German colonizers in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. After a brief overview of the history—which finds a surprising amount of humor in its presentational style and our tutors’ actorly energy—the stage’s work lights come up and we flash back to the actors’ initial gathering, as they hash out how to present their presentation.
As the group pores over letters home from German soldiers—the only primary source material available, since the Herero were almost entirely stamped out——the dynamic shifts again and again as they try to find a way into the mind-set of those who would condone and participate in genocide. Race naturally becomes a factor in the nameless characters’ interactions, which turn touchy in ways both expected and surprising as the group members battle over assumptions and who’s more understanding of whom. Jackie Sibblies Drury lands a number of intriguing blows in a production handsomely staged by Long Wharf Theatre’s Eric Ting with an able and appealing cast. Still, inside-baseball theater-game gags wear thin, and the play’s breathless climax feels artificially attained.—Kris Vire
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