by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
seen at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond on 24 June 2017
Ned Bennett directs a cast of eight in this new play freely adapted and commenting on Dion Boucicault's 1859 play The Octoroon, a melodramatic shocker purporting to address the slave question by following the fortunes of an octoroon (one-eighth negro) who nobly forswears her love for the newly arrived inheritor of the plantation on which she has been brought up.
In this version the African-American playwright BJJ (Ken Nwosu) opens proceedings with a monologue about his position on the New York drama scene and his attempt to stage his adaptation with limited resources. This entails him 'whiting up' to play the new master George and the villain M'Closkey, while a white actor (Alistair Toovey) has to 'black up' to play various negro males. The playwright Boucicault (Kevin Trainor) in turn 'reds up' to play a native American, and later as an auctioneer insouciantly announces that he has been sunburnt while carrying out his duties. The female characters (Vivian Oparah, Emmanuella Cole, Cassie Clare, Celeste Dodwell and Iola Evans) are not required to disguise their skin colour.
