By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO–That May is Jewish Heritage Month is evidenced by the two plays, both bearing Jewish content, now running in repertory at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park: William Gibson’s Golda’s Balcony is on the main stage and Matthew Lopez’s Whipping Man is in the theatre in the round or the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre next door.
Golda’s Balcony (reviewed earlier), opened at the Helen Hays Theatre on Broadway in 2003. Before that, his Golda was produced in 1977 without the fanfare of the 2003 version. Now it is the hit it should be.
The two plays are connected by history or if you prefer, by historical events. Meir was the fourth Prime Minister of Israel at a time that Israel was in a survival mode of pushing back an enemy that was hell bent on obliterating her and running her people into the sea. It’s a pretty well known and documented historical chapter in the scheme of things.
Lopez’s themes revolve around the Civil War, slavery, Reconstruction and a Jewish legacy some might not be too proud of. It might very well have been a non-issue to many before seeing this play since the topic of slavery comes up for most Jews but once a year at Passover. And as for owning slaves? Biblical history testifies Jews were the ones owned not owners, right? Yes and no answers Lopez in his eye opening new play The Whipping Man.
Caleb DeLeon (Mark J. Sullivan) grew up in Richmond, Virginia. His southern Jewish family was privileged, proud and wealthy. They also owned household slaves. Southern Jews who were merchants as many were, not only owned slaves they were also active in the slave trade.
When DeLeon left his home in Richmond, Virginia, to join up with the Confederate Army, he left behind his parents and his slaves. When he limps back to his barely recognizable house after leaving the battlefield of Vicksburg, he finds his old slave Simon (Charlie Robinson) living among the ruins of his once proud Richmond mansion. Hiding out in the shadows is the much younger John, John (Avery Glymph), another of the DeLeon slaves.
Caleb is wounded and confused and without thinking of what he was fighting for and that his side lost, begins barking orders at Simon to get him this and get him that. With reluctance and reminding him that is no longer in servitude, the grandfatherly Simon complies.
But when Simon sees Caleb’s infected leg, it is he who takes charge and insists Caleb either go to the Army hospital to have the leg amputated, or he, Simon, will do it at the house, and immediately! What follows is pretty gruesome and horrific.
John, on the other hand is belligerent and angry. He still remembers being taken to the Whipping Man (rather than the slave owner) for punishment when he disobeyed (he was only 6) and Caleb, watching, wanting a shot at it. He is about Caleb’s age and one rebel to be reckoned with. Even so he reluctantly helps Simon remove Caleb’s leg, but he continues his ranting sarcasm not sympathy towards Caleb.
We see him sneaking in and out carrying a burlap sack over his shoulder filled with pilfered items from vacant homes in the neighborhood. Sometimes he finds food that is very scarce these days, other times objects he will sell when he leaves, he declares.
Both men are waiting for the return of the DeLeon family who fled taking Simon’s daughter and wife with them. They reassure Caleb that his mother and father were fine when they left and when they get back, the former slaves were hopeful that his father would give them money to begin their lives as freed slaves. The war is over. Lee surrendered at Appomattox and now hopefully, the business of Reconstruction will begin.
There is business to tend to at home, though. The holiday of Passover is about to commence and the ritual of Passover, minus a few necessities will go on as usual. Based on some research the young playwright landed upon, that of the sometimes practice of slaves adopting their master’s religion, we learn John and Simon have been celebrating Passover over the years. So they all read from the Haggadah with Caleb, the youngest, asking the Four Questions.
It seems Grandfather DeLeon schooled both Simon and John in the practices of Judaism. John still kisses the mezuzah when he enters the household. Coincidently, the surrender of Appomattox took place around the time of the first night of Passover 1865. It lasts seven days and the first night or first Seder is celebrated on the eve of the beginning of the holiday.
Simon and John recognize the significance and the irony of this year’s celebration particularly since they are now free men as were the Jews in Egypt after Moses led them out of Egypt, out of bondage and into freedom. The comparisons to Moses and Lincoln, The Great Emancipator doesn’t go unnoticed by Simon. The contrasts in the way the three men see the comparisons play an important role in the judgments, revelations, attitudes and actions as the play itself moves forward.
John questions the sincerity of their ever being accepted into the Jewish faith or of truly being free. He has read Leviticus and quotes it back verbatim to Simon and Caleb: “if thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve. And in the seventh shall go for nothing.” Nonetheless, the ritual Passover Seder takes place amid the ruins of the DeLeon house with each man’s thoughts veering off into different directions.
As for Caleb, who seems to have lost his religious beliefs during his time in the army, the question begs as to whether or not he has fully accepted the surrender and its ramifications. Simon, the most liberated and aware of the significance, will have his own demons to deal with especially the fate of his daughter, who is still with the DeLeon’s for one, and his own coming to grips with the hypocrisy of Jews owning slaves and of his being a Jew himself for another.
Lopez has surely done his homework in showing a slice of life seldom spoken of or seen and the Globe’s production shows that, even though more questions are raised than answered. Under the careful direction of Giovanna Sardelli the actors hit all the right highs and lows of the Lopez script. Set in the ruins of the war (Robert Mark Morgan), with the only lights cast in the partially destroyed DeLeon house (Lap Chi Chu) are a few lightning bursts coming from a storm (Jill BC Du Boff) heard outside, candles from the Passover table and lanterns held to light the way.
The outstanding three-member cast has its ups and down but mostly ups. On opening night Robinson had a few memory lapses but picked up steam, as he got more involved. His performance is stellar going from jubilation to utter despair when he learns that Lincoln was assassinated. From amputating Caleb’s leg to slopping up the blood soaked floor to singing “Let My People Go” to the painful stance he took about the punishment he received as a slave, there was no mistaking that he was able to maintain his dignity, courage and quiet strength throughout.
Avery Glymph held his own as the rebel surely with cause. Being a free man has given him options he probably never thought of before. Young and agile, his role is a bit more difficult to figure out in this particular context until almost the very end (which I will not reveal) but there are little hints of what’s to come.
Mark J. Sullivan’s character is probably the most difficult of the three characters. While some today might be color blind, it’s quite clear that the two African Americans, who used to take orders from Caleb’s white family as well as himself, are clearly in charge of his life at this juncture of it. Sullivan does the best he can with the most thankless role and the fact that he seemed clueless to the history that was being made is even more evident when he keeps asking where all the food is, and still maintaining a superior attitude. While that might have been acceptable then, since it was a culture shock to most slave owning Southerners, there are those who to this day still don’t get it.
Most of Sullivan’s lines are said in a prone position (remember he had his leg amputated) and on the one rare occasion where he reads a letter that he never sent to Samuel’s daughter, he did so with enough emotional punch to warrant a break in the play by audience applause.
Lopez’s play is both gripping, oft times too glib and somewhat troubling. No question the playwright has hit on a subject matter that not only the characters in the play find ironical and difficult to deal with but also many in the audience, myself included, found tough to watch as well as challenging to reconcile in my own mind.
The notion that Jews owned slaves is disillusioning. Program notes by Rabbi Ralph A. Dalin quoted from an article by Bertram W. Korn which in essence said… “When the Eastern European Jews fled anti Semitism and settled in the South they felt a need to accept communal norms,” it doesn’t pass muster.
In the same Playbill article he writes, “The history of slavery would not have differed one wit from historical reality if no single Jew had been resident in the south.” This passage is taken from Bertram W. Korn, the acknowledged greatest expert on the topic. My answer to that reasoning is sober up and get real. This logic is an affront to all rational thinking people. Accepting this at face value and then passing it off as grounds because an expert on the subject wrote it is UNacceptable. It sounds like the “Who shot John” theory.
Whatever happened to Rabbi Hillel’s famous quote, “What is hateful to thyself do not do to another. That is the whole Law, the rest is Commentary”. Thanks to Matthew Lopez an honest discussion around the Passover table might hit on just this subject.
Lopez, the Globe’s playwright in residence seems to be onto something by exploring themes not touched on with any regularity. Hopefully, he has more in the works equally as challenging but a little more edgy.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: May 8 – June 13
Organization: Old Globe Theatre
Phone: 619-
Production Type: Drama
Where: Balboa Park 1363 Old Globe Way, San Diego
Ticket Prices: $29.00-$62.00
Web: theoldglobe.org
Venue: Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre
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Theatre critic Davis is based in San Diego