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The Whipping Man
Reviewed by Terry Morgan
South Coast Repertory
Through Jan. 25
Matthew Lopez’s The Whipping Man is reputed to be one of the most widely produced American plays of the past few years. I can see why. It’s well written, with several splendid speeches for actors. It only has three roles and doesn’t necessarily require a fancy set.
The new production at South Coast Repertory has two terrific performances and a gorgeous ruin of a set, yet the play is mildly disappointing, with little new or insightful to say about its subject.
The Civil War has just ended, and Caleb (Adam Haas Hunter) has returned to find his family home in Richmond. His family is not present, having fled the burning city, but newly freed slaves Simon (Charlie Robinson) and John (Jarrod M. Smith) are there, watching the house where they once labored, and with John looting the deserted houses of others. Caleb has been wounded, and Simon tends to him as he awaits the return of his wife and daughter, ready to start a new life as a free man. John, however, resents Caleb for past actions, and harbors secrets that could devastate the delicate peace.
Robinson, who won an NAACP award for this same role in the Old Globe production, is outstanding here. His performance combines sly wit and honest emotion, and his monologue about meeting Abraham Lincoln is a thing of joy. Smith is surprisingly funny, something one doesn’t expect in a play about the after-effects of slavery, yet he nails the role’s dramatic aspects, particularly in his speech about the titular terror. Hunter, an impressive actor in several past roles, here seems somewhat tentative. This may be partly due to the writing, which undermines the dramatic triangle by making Caleb the weakest character.
Martin Benson’s direction highlights the strengths of the play, and the opening sequence, with thunder booming behind Thomas Buderwitz’s stunning mansion set, is theatrically thrilling. Lopez’s play has a lot to recommend it, and he clearly is a talented writer. However, its subject, which compares the slavery of the Jewish people to the slavery of African Americans, settles on the true but theatrically lackluster conclusion that slavery is bad. Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.
South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Dr., Costa Mesa; Tues.-Sun., 7:45 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. 2 p.m.; through Jan. 25. (Transferring to the Pasadena Playhouse Feb. 3 to March 1) www.scr.org
