Blue
Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
Rogue Machine Theatre at the Henry Murray Space at the Matrix Theatre
Through June 5
RECOMMENDED
Murder-by-cop. In Blue, playwright June Carryl lays out a blueprint for this grim, all-too-frequent horror show, building her story around a character who has taken the life of another human being and is struggling to justify this action both to himself and the person recording his take on events.
The play is set in a police squad room, a dim depressing space (production design by Joe McClean and Dane Bowman) with a table and chairs, an overhead camera, and not much else. In director Michael Matthews’s immersive staging — in the Matrix Theatre’s upstairs Henry Murray space — the audience is seated on either side of the playing area, mere feet from the actors. Outside in the hallway, photos of decorated police officers cover the walls. An American flag also is prominently displayed.
Summoned for questioning, Sully (John Colella), a White guy with 29 years with the LAPD, seems nervous from the get-go. He’s been called in by the FID — Force Investigation Division — to account for his shooting of a young Black man in a quiet neighborhood adjacent to the Hollywood Hills. The unarmed man was attempting to drive away after Sully had stopped him for expired tags. Sully’s anxiety moderately abates when he discovers that the person responsible for taking his statement is a former friend and colleague, a Black woman named Parker (Julanne Chidi Hill) whose husband, also a cop, he had partnered with, back in the day. His instinct is to generate, then prolong, a wow-how-have-you-been-long-time-no-see conversation that might (not so subtly) turn down the heat.
Parker briefly plays along, but she isn’t fooled and soon commences the business of uncovering exactly what happened. A gentle prodding for details gives way to a broader interrogation that goes so far as to encompass Sully’s presence at the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. The drama plays out with few surprises, generating a profile of an incipient fascist that comes to life in Colella’s layered performance — his skillful relay of the rage, defensiveness and insecurity that fuels his character’s behavior also propels the production.
As Parker, Chidi Hill channels the voice of the playwright (and all of us who’ve raged and wept at these unspeakable tragedies). There’s much satisfaction to be had when an investigating detective, a woman of color whose risen in the ranks, wields reason, fact and a determination for justice to arrive at the truth. (See Fani T. Willis for confirmation.)
That said, some aspects of the production might be finessed. Carryl’s back story of a warm past relationship between the two principles is rich with potential; as is, it’s hazily drawn, leaving the task of conjuring details to the actor assuming the role. As directed by Matthews, Chidi Hill’s Parker is thinly developed; we never get much of who this woman might be beyond her role of interrogator. Broadening and deepening the narrative to include other elements — her marriage, her husband’s health, the racism she’s personally encountered or the obstacles she may have had to overcome — could turn this satisfying dramatic vehicle into a truly compelling play.
The Henry Murray Space at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. Fri.-Sat. & Mon., 8 pm, Sun., 3 pm; thru June 5. https://www.roguemachinetheatre.org/ Running time: 55 minutes with no intermission.
