Review: BEHIND THE SHEET at The Black Rep At COCA

Charly Evon Simpson's BEHIND THE SHEET is a fictional story based on real life events of the inhumane experimentation and treatment of enslaved women who sustained childbirth obstetric fistulas in the birth canal. In BEHIND THE SHEET, Dr. George Barry purchases infirmed slave women from plantation owners to perform experimental surgeries without the use of anesthesia. While Dr. Barry ultimately finds a cure, it is the slave women who endured the pain and suffering of these injuries who drive the narrative as they are treated as human lab rats to find a cure.

Chinna Palmer (Philomena) plays the protagonist who drives the narrative. As the play opens, a pregnant Philomena is assisting Dr. Barry in his work to find a cure. She is also serving the Missus (Josephine) of the home. Philomena believes in the work Dr. Barry is conducting and is less than sympathetic to the women that Dr. Barry is operating on without anesthesia. She believes that the work he is doing will ultimately find a cure. What she doesn't realize is that she will become his human Guinea pig for over 30 surgeries. She labors hard, with Dr. Barry's baby, over three days and sustains the worst of the fistulas that Dr. Barry has seen in his practice. In the end, she becomes the patient he presents as his ultimate success.

Ms. Palmer's performance is an incredible display of what great acting looks like. In her hands, Philomena is a character that has a complete transformation. Once she realizes she has sustained the same post-partum injury as the other women she instantly becomes empathetic for what the women before her have endured and conveys her horrific fear to the audience. She knows that what is to come, at the hands of Dr. Barry, is repeated painful surgeries without anesthesia. It is a characterization that illustrates cathartic change and makes her among the most sympathetic of characters ever staged. Simpson has created a character, with a dramatic arc, that is unlike any other seen on stage.

A perfect cast surrounds Ms. Palmer. Jeff Cummings and Alison Kertz play Dr. Barry and his wife Josephine as unsympathetic slave owners who illustrate the atrocities and inhumanities of slavery. The other women who were treated by Dr. Barry are played by Patience Davis (Dinah), Christina Yancy (Sally) and Taijha Necole Silas (Mary) and all provide stellar performances that buys empathy from the audience for their painful human sacrifice. In just minutes on stage, Brian McKinley (Benjamin/Lewis) charms both Philomena and the audience with his caring eyes, warm smile and dashing handsome looks. This impeccable cast is rounded out by Alex Jay (Betty) and Ryan Lawson-Maeske (Samuel/Edward.)

Ron Himes directs a profound production that grabs the audience and doesn't let go. Margery and Peter Spack have proven again that they can use projection effects against simple backdrops to design beautiful scenery to compliment the narrative. Lamar Harris' sound design drives the tension in the narrative and provides significant depth to the production.

BEHIND THE SHEET can be difficult to watch. The experiences of enslaved women and the brutality that they faced is unfathomable. But this is a play that grips the audience from beginning to end. It is a piece of playwriting that cannot be ignored. For more information about BEHIND THE SHEET visit theblackrep.org.

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