Stage review: King Hedley II. Dominion Stage/Gunston Theatre, Arlington, VA.
It was our first time seeing King Hedley II performed live on stage. Of course seeing a performance on stage is different from reading a play in a book, though one may inform the other. I had read King Hedley II multiple times for several iterations of our study group and had trained my imagination for what I was expecting to see on the stage. My earlier blog posts are here and here.
Arriving at the theatre and thumbing through the playbill (a single folded page, to get the full playbill you had to scan a QRC code to read it on your phone. How modern!), I saw that Stool Pigeon was being played by a woman, Jacqueline Youm. “Hmm,” I thought to myself, “that’s interesting.” But my mind was open to it. We’ll get back to that later.
The lights dim and the play begins. The first person who speaks is the female Stool Pigeon. I thought I knew what to expect as I had read and blogged about the play numerous times. But OMG, this actress (and director) took the Stool Pigeon/Greek chorus role to a whole new level, a delightful place, which would be repeated every time Stool Pigeon spoke throughout the play!
Here is how they did it. But first some background. Stool Pigeon was previously known as Canewell in the prequel to King Hedley II, Seven Guitars. Canewell was kinda sorta around when Hedley killed Floyd Barton with a machete to his windpipe in a bit of a drunken rage. In the intervening years, apparently, Canewell divulged that it was Hedley who killed Barton, earning the moniker Stool Pigeon, a person acting as a decoy or an informer. Additionally, and as a dramatic device, Stool Pigeon, plays the role of the Greek chorus in this very Greek tragedy, providing the prologue. From an earlier blog post,
In brief, the function of the chorus in Greek Drama is to provide commentary on actions and events occurring in the play, to allow time and space to the playwright to control the atmosphere and expectations of the audience, to allow the playwright to prepare the audience for key moments in the storyline, and to underline certain elements and downplay others. Go back and re-read Stool Pigeon’s parts and it becomes evident that is the role he is playing.
So, there is Stool Pigeon, there is Canewell (his earlier manifestation and perhaps, his alter ego), and there is the Greek chorus role he (or she) plays. But this production adds yet another feature to the character as written. When Stool Pigeon recites from his book (it sounds like the Bible, but I checked the quotes and it just isn’t), he takes on a completely different persona, in his tone of voice, in his posture, in his whole being. He becomes a sort of oracle, a high holy man, a priest. Then, as soon as his recitation is complete, he collapses, in a way, and returns to his normal self, a sort of trickster who collects newspapers (an archivist, perhaps?) and has seen it all in this small urban village.
Jacqueline Youm plays a very convincing role as this most complex character, which the audience recognizes in their responses throughout the play and at the final curtain call. George Bernard Shaw, the great Irish playwright wrote, “It is in the nature of great acting that we are not to see this woman as Ophelia, but Ophelia as this woman.” After last night, I have a whole different idea about Stool Pigeon.
Other actors were also exceptional. Mack Leamon provides a spectacular interpretation of King Hedley II, the only play in Wilson’s Cycle named for one of its characters. You get from his bio that he is both a seasoned actor AND a seasoned Wilson performer. It shows.
Vanessa McNair, a novice to the stage, serves us an admirable Tonya, wife of King Hedley. Her monologues, some of the most popular in all of Wilson’s plays (as evidenced in monologue competitions across the country) are delivered clearly and with punch and panashe. She is no Viola Davis, who won a Tony for best actress in the role. Perhaps the theater-goers are better off for it.
My only complaint in this production was the failure to fully capitalize on the meow of the cat at the beginning of the play and at the final curtain. Aunt Ester, the matriarch of the Cycle, dies in the course of King Hedley II. The meow of the cat at the beginning of the play, for me, foreshadows the meow of the cat at the very end, when slain Hedley’s blood flows into the soil where Aunt Ester’s cat is buried, symbolizing the “resurrection” of the spirit of Aunt Ester and all that means for the community.
The play runs through November 5. I am giving serious consideration to seeing it again. Don’t miss this excellent (and full of surprises) production if you are in the area.