By Kevin Koeninger
The second of four plays to be presented at the University of Louisville this academic year, “King Hedley II,” had its opening last Wed., Oct. 25, at the Thrust Theatre.
The drama, written by the late African-American playwright, August Wilson, offers, at least on the surface, a glimpse into the poverty-stricken lives of a black American family in the 1980’s. At its core, however, the play offers much, much more than that.
Director Paul Carter Harrison, a Professor Emeritus at Columbia University Chicago, stated “The play is not about black people living in poverty, but rather a blood ritual of redemption.”
Amid a flurry of violence both on and offstage, the piece shows how death can be channeled into a creative and redemptive source of power. Choosing to abandon the more traditional tones and methods used to stage this work, Harrison opted to litter the stage with only a few set pieces and take the focus away from poverty.
Harrison said, “[The] ritual of redemption is far more important than the trappings of poverty.”
As for the text itself, Wilson is a master of creating free-flowing lines that attain a poetic status few others can claim.
Director Harrison stated, “There is a lyrical quality to the vernacular language found in the play” and that it was important to recognize the poetics found within the text. By staging the play with a more concentrated focus on the blood ritual that lies at the heart of the drama, Harrison found the poetics to be much more understandable.
The effect is obvious; while the spoken words may be rife with slang and obscenities, their rhythm and candor is unmistakably musical. This song-like nature endures for the length of the entire play and becomes one of the most endearing aspects of the production.
Revolving around the day-to-day routines of the recently paroled King, the play gains much of its credibility from the frequent and often lengthy monologues delivered by each of the main characters. These impassioned speeches tease, tug, and at times even terrorize the audience, and certainly end up being the main source of back story.
Twists and turns throughout the play often happen offstage, with additional chunks of time being devoted to explaining the plot. Ultimately, King wants to follow in his father’s footsteps by declaring his supremacy and restoring order and peace in his neighborhood.
And while King is certainly the focal point of the play’s action, there is no doubt that its most integral character is Stool Pigeon, a Sanford-esqe neighbor who is constantly preaching brimstone and fire to an unlistening audience. While every other character toils about his or her everyday existence, Stool Pigeon is the only one who realizes the true gravity of the situation in which they find themselves.
While he could certainly be written off as a crackpot, his true knowledge slowly reveals itself throughout the play. His insistence on the past and remembering where you came from is crucial to understanding the play’s violent and climactic conclusion. His final, strained cries of “We give God our glory,” while hovering over King were a fitting and deeply symbolic finale.
While a bit lethargic at times, the play’s two-and-a-half hour time span certainly did not take away from it quality. Wilson’s emphatic dialogue coupled with Harrison’s masterful direction serves to produce a dramatic and effectual piece of drama that wants to overwhelm the audience with emotion. The enlivened and heartfelt performances of Clyde Tyrone Harper (Stool Pigeon) and Robert O’Bryan Greene (King) truly make the play shine and are worthy of extra commendation.
