Nat Turner in Jerusalem
Tickets from $39 Buy Tickets
Cititour.com Review
More effective – and affecting – as a statement on how far we haven’t come in this country when it comes to race relations than as truly riveting drama, Nathan Alan Davis’ two-hander “Nat Turner in Jerusalem,” now at New York Theatre Workshop, is worth 90 minutes of your time. And not just for the issues it raises, although if Davis’ intent in writing the play is not just to reexamine Turner’s actions, but to make us look differently at the actions of “Black Lives Matter” protestors or those who have taken to violent action to protest racism recently, he has succeeded.
Still, the he best reason to see the work is to witness the galvanizing performance of Philip James Brannon as Turner, the 19th-century slave who not only killed all the men (and their families) who owned him, but helped instigate a far-reaching revolt that led to the deaths of dozens of white people. Indeed, had he not been hanged --- the play takes place in the hours leading up that pivotal event -- it’s possible that he could have led a larger (if bloodier) revolution that might have had changed the course of history long before the Civil War.
As created by Davis and Brannon, Turner is a man steadfastly unapologetic for the crimes he’s committed, yet charismatic and, in his own way semi-rational enough to get us on his side. Quoting Bible verses with ease and intoning commands like prophesies, as he talks both to his lawyer/confessor Thomas Gray and surprisingly white prison guard – both played with great skill and differentiation by Rowan Vickers – Brannon makes Turner’s horrible actions feel almost defensible. Yet, the play leaves us dangling as to whether Turner fully convinces either man of the righteous of his actions.
While some of Davis’ writing is quite lovely, viewing “Nat Turner in Jerusalem” can also feel like watching Al Sharpton preach for 90 minutes: exhausting in both good and bad ways. That’s particularly true because of director Megan Sandberg-Zakian’s surprisingly static direction (periodically moving the platform on which Brannon and Vickers stand down the playing area proves to more distracting than clever) and set designer Susan Zeeman Rogers’ unfortunate choice of seating the audience on uncomfortable bleacher-like seats on either side of the playing field. I get the concept, but this trend of making audiences physically uncomfortable really needs to stop. It’s counterproductive.
In fact, perhaps the best of all possible worlds would be if Brannon would come to your house, and simply read William Styron’s Pulitzer-Prize winning “The Confessions of Nat Turner” while you lie on your coach.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://www.nytw.org/show/nat-turner-in-jerusalem
Cast
Phillip James Brannon, Rowan Vickers
Open/Close Dates
Opening 9/7/2016
Closing 10/16/2016
Box Office
212-460-5475
Theatre Info
New York Theatre Workshop
79 East 4th Street
New York, NY 10003
Map
Comments
Sign up for our newsletter !