review - Neighbors

RECOMMENDED

Neighbors

by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

directed by Nataki Garrett

Matrix Theatre

extended through November 7

Described as the most provocative play of the season the West Coast premiere of Neighbors @ the Matrix is as complex and alluring as a theatre piece is likely to get, at least by 2010 standards. Taking place in a distorted present,  Branden Jacobs-Jenkins literally sets off a time bomb. This is an extremely potent clash of values: into a high middle-class gated community come racially stereotypical black traveling minstrels or vagabonds from out of the distant past, moving right next door to an upwardly mobile African American professor. With an astounding ensemble, bold direction from Nataki Garrett and a radically atypical structure Neighbors is a definite must see.

Let's first of all define the characters more specifically. Richard Patterson (Derek Webster), teaching Greek tragedy/mythology at a local college, is a highly educated African-American with a Caucasian wife Jean (Julia Campbell), a former poet, and a 15 year-old African-American daughter Melody (Rachae Thomas). Are they happy? Hardly, except through his rose-colored glasses. Patterson cannot believe his eyes when what appear to be a band of black slaves - right out of the nineteenth century - move next door. The Crows consist of Mammy (Baadja-Lyne), her brother-in-law Zip (Leith Burke), and children Sambo (Keith Arthur Bolden), Topsy (Daniele Watts) and Jim (James Edward Shippy) - whose names are all symbolic of denigrating black stereotypes. Like minstrels the Crows wear black face and are represented, also in the minstrel vein, as working entertainers, all of whom perform, singly and together, throughout the play. 

Jacobs-Jenkins sets up an implausible situation - impossible in today's world - that boggles the mind, but that makes it think and explore in totally novel ways. The Crows are 'different', outcasts in a white world where even blacks like the uppety Richard Patterson are trying desperately to live a white lifestyle, to deny their heritage and  declare that 'race is just an illusion'. In the end, what we are left with, is a painful reminder that a black man is still a black man despite his position, and that, in fact, he is first and foremost a man, who by means of art, in whatever form - education or entertainment, represents his own slant and value, which will, in the long run, help to shape a shared human experience.  

The cast is miraculous. Webster and Burke play the dueling antagonists with a keen and undiminished ferocity to the very end. Burke's Zip is really the mouthpiece for the playwright, moving in and out of the Pattersons' lives to stimulate and jolt them into positive action. Campbell is outstanding in her depiction of the desperately lonely wife. Her monologues 'soliloquizing' about preferences for black or white are simultaneously funny and irritatingly thought provoking. Thomas is equally strong as Melody. We sympathize with her in her attempt to escape an oppressive and unrealisitc environment. Bolden, Watts, Shippy and Lyne are all terrific, each with a uniquely expressive panto or musical set that is brazen and highly entertaining. Through the caricatures they are all able to convey the frustrations and humiliation of their lot.

John Iacovelli's cold scenic design and Naila Alladin Sanders' costumes, especially the Crows' clownish wardrobe are expertly executed. Garrett's staging, especially at play's end, is unforgettable.

Like Sam Shepherd's True West, that manages to be funny and meaningful with larger-than-life cartoonish characters, Neighbors enlightens and entertains with a one-of-a-kind structure, personality and delivery that make it somewhat of a minor classic and gives its author Branden Jacobs-Jenkins a truly fresh voice on the American theatre scene.

(Language, some visuals and sexual inuendos will be offensive to some.)

4 out of 5 stars