Review Roundup: AN OCTOROON Opens Off-Broadway

Theatre for A New Audience presents Soho Rep.'s An Octoroon. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's widely acclaimed play, directed by Sarah Benson, Artistic Director, Soho Rep, opens tonight, February 26, and plays through March 15, 2015.

The cast for Soho Rep.'s An Octoroon includes Maechi Aharanwa, Pascale Armand, Danielle Davenport, Amber Gray, Ian Lassiter, Austin Smith, Haynes Thigpen, and Mary Wiseman.

Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins takes on Dion Boucicault's 1859 play, The Octoroon, about forbidden love and slavery in the American South. In An Octoroon, Judge Peyton is dead, and his plantation, Terrebonne, is in financial ruins. Peyton's handsome nephew George arrives as heir apparent, and quickly falls in love with Zoe, a beautiful "octoroon." But, the evil overseer M'Closky has other plans-for both Terrebonne and Zoe.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Ben Brantley, The New York Times: Walking on a stage covered with cotton balls is a tricky business. It's all too easy to slip into a pratfall. And forget about running or dancing or hopping like a bunny, as the characters sometimes unwisely attempt in "An Octoroon," Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's coruscating comedy of unresolved history...Mr. Jacobs-Jenkins has deliberately built his play on slippery foundations, the kind likely to trip up any dramatist, performer or theatergoer...Directed by Sarah Benson, in a style that perfectly matches its mutating content...in its current incarnation, "An Octoroon" feels even richer and more resonant than it did before, both funnier and more profoundly tragic. Strange as it seems, a work based on a terminally dated play from more than 150 years ago may turn out to be this decade's most eloquent theatrical statement on race in America today.

Marilyn Stasio, Variety: While slapping on whiteface (because he'll be playing both the white hero and the white villain of the piece), BJJ examines at length his own feelings about the historical fact of racism and the political reality of racism in the present day...Smart and funny though they be, these meta-theatrical musings go on for too long and ultimately undercut the scribe's broader intentions. BJJ's acknowledgement that our national legacy of slavery still hangs over his own head does give him the motivation to write his show. But, however unintentionally, this narrow focus on the playwright also gives white members of his audience an excuse to wriggle off the hook...As the show moves into a more abstract theatrical form, it also gradually darkens in both message and tone, until one devastating (but not to be divulged) coup de theater reminds us that there's a very sharp point to all the fun.

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News: The boldly hilarious button-pusher "An Octoroon" gets lots of lift by tearing things down. First to fall is the fourth wall, with actors talking directly to the audience about the making of the play. Next down is the knee-jerk controversy over white actors appearing in black (and red) face -- and blacks in white face. Writer Branden Jacobs-Jenkins gets away with it all because it's a racial satire...Thanks to Jacobs-Jenkins' sly tweaks, a terrific cast, and director Sarah Benson's potent staging, gallons of fresh theatrical juice gets squeezed from the source...Beyond race, identity and the long reach of history, the show explores creative challenges and missions. That's a lot for one play to handle -- which one character sums up, "The whole point of this thing was to make you feel something." Mission accomplished.

Elisabeth Vincentelli, New York Post: This brilliant, daring, demented show takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. One second, you're horrified by a shocker of an image. The next, you're laughing -- but nervously, since you're not sure you're meant to...Directed with brilliance and ingenuity by Sarah Benson -- the set changes alone are eye-popping -- the production just reopened at Theatre for a New Audience after a buzzed-about, sold-out run last year at Soho Rep. Of the original cast, only Gray remains, and while her new colleagues aren't quite as sharp as their predecessors, the show's audacity is intact. What's amazing is how Jacobs-Jenkins pulls every trick out of the theatrical bag to look at how we've framed the retelling of the black experience. He's irreverent but never flippant, and beyond the sass and profanity, the show packs an emotional punch -- as well as the excitement that signals the arrival of a major new voice.

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Photo Credit: Gerry Goodstein

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