Pre-Broadway ‘Gem’
On Friday, I saw August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, prior to its opening on Broadway in early November.
Bookended by scenes with too many lengthy monologues, the engrossing central moment of Gem is an ocean ritual. In 1904 Pittsburgh, Citizen Barlow (John Earl Jelks) has done wrong and has come to Aunt Ester (Phylicia Rashad) to seek redemption. Born in 1619, the year African slaves were first known in America, Ester tells Citizen he needs to visit the City of Bones, an underwater world made of the bones of slaves. While the play is full of scriptures and Christian doctrine, this redemptive journey, obviously a baptism, is very African too, with its masks, chanting and enchanting. I’m sure there’s something profound to learn from this, but during his journey in which we are caught up in fine acting, Citizen never leaves the first floor of Aunt Ester’s house, the setting for the entire play. Similarly, when they play is over, we realize that we were never transported all that far.
The upside of all this is that I want to see other Wilson plays. The downside is that one reason I want to see other plays of his is to verify that the all-important ritual Citizen must pass through is actually much easier than watching the contents of any one of Wilson’s other eight plays. Yes, great production values kept me rapt for 3 hours, despite the many monologues, but I feel I missed something. Maybe it’s just that I’m an August Wilson newbie, but I suspect Wilson earned his high reputation by rocking and riling up rather than merely entertaining his audiences. Here, dramatic structure takes a back seat to having something to say.