Christian Henley, Aaron Jennings, Veralyn Jones and Kacie Rogers (Photo by Craig Schwartz)
This review is part of the Stage Raw/Unusual Suspects Youth Journalism Fellowship
Reviewed by Jack Grotenstein
A Noise Within
Through April 28
RECOMMENDED
King Hedley II is the ninth play in August Wilson’s Century Cycle, and the third from the cycle that A Noise Within has produced. Wilson’s critically acclaimed cycle features 10 plays, set Hill District in Pittsburgh and detailing the lives of Black Americans from each decade of the 20th century. These plays earned Wilson many awards, most notably a Pulitzer Prize. Each of their everlastingly relevant messages about equality and acceptance means that they are still widely performed.
This production simultaneously delivers stories of love, greed, and new beginnings for a young Black man living in 1980s Pittsburgh. King (a passionate and iron-willed Aaron Jennings), has recently been released from prison, but still hasn’t found freedom, bound as he is by the difficulties of his quest to own a video store. King is also working to support his mother, Ruby (Veralyn Jones), and wife, Tonya (Kacie Rogers).
Many of Wilson’s works play with the supernatural, in the form of superstitions and other-worldly characters. In King Hedley II, we first meet Stool Pigeon (Tony Winters), the local mystic, theologian, and problem-hearer, beating a drum through the audience and onto the stage, while reciting a monologue to a cat. He details the changing of the times and loss of Aunt Ester, a metaphysical archetype representing an “embodiment of African wisdom and tradition.”
King is unhappy with the social and economic injustice that oppresses Black Americans. In an attempt to make some cash, he starts selling refrigerators with his equally disillusioned best friend, Mister (Christian Henley). Ruby is wary of King’s business ventures, as she believes the refrigerators are stolen and doesn’t want King back in jail. King reassures her the business is legal, although it’s not clear he believes it himself.
Mister warns King that a cousin of Pernell (the man who gave King a vicious scar across his face, whom King later went to jail for murdering) is in town and looking for revenge. King brushes this warning off.
Elmore (Ben Cain), Ruby’s charming ex-flame and professional sleazeball, is suddenly back in town, trying to prove to Ruby that he has since changed his ways. Elmore and Ruby rekindle their love, while Mister and King hatch a plan to rob a Jewelry store. The latter duo make off with an unimpressive profit, and it is revealed that King’s impulsiveness got in the way of the plan.
Tensions rise between King and a pregnant and rightfully distrusting Tonya. Elmore and Ruby slip a secret to King, resulting in a disastrously climactic confrontation.
I much enjoyed the heartfelt and raw performances all around as well as the immersive staging, but the underuse of a potentially captivating lighting effect left me somewhat disappointed.
The thrust stage, perfectly nestled into the audience, beautifully held the action of the show, achieving the goal of making the audience a fly on the wall of King’s life. The set as a whole felt truly lived in for the actors. The set houses, shrouded by a scrim, had an interesting lighting mechanism, turning them from mostly opaque to clear, and displaying some key moments inside the houses. This effect was used very sparingly, which felt somewhat wasteful.
Under Gregg T. Daniels’s direction, each performance was special, personal, and real, but some standouts include Cain’s masterfully manipulative Elmore and Jones’s resilient and pragmatic Ruby. Additionally, Daniels and the cast expertly played the humor in the script; so that the audience rapidly switched between belly laughing and crying, sometimes at the same time.
Wilson’s goal with the century cycle was to give glimpses into the lives of Black people in America throughout the 20th century, describing their unique struggle and tenacity. This production completely honors and executes Wilson’s intent, and keeps the audience in its emotional grasp.
A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. Thur., 7:30 p.m. (Dark Thur. April 18.); Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m. (No matinee April 6 and no evening performance April 27); Sun., 2 p.m. Ends April 28. (626) 356-3100. www.anoisewithin.org 2 hours and 50 minutes with intermission.
