Review: Powerful History in Theater Alliance's THE RAID

"Everybody in this play is dead."

There is something to be said about being present in historical plays. But when the characters in the Theater Alliance's powerful production "The Raid," begins with the characters sitting alongside the audience in the seats that ring the performance space and announce their impending demise, we realize we are in for a more visceral experience than history books often provide.

"You'll see many of us die tonight."

It's a way to bring a rural uprising more than 150 years ago to life at a time when its central concerns are not so far away after all.

Idris Goodwin's "The Raid," getting its D.C. premiere in the Theater Alliance production at the Anacostia Playhouse, after first being staged at the Jackalope Theatre in Chicago, takes a boldly original approach in setting up plans to raid the U.S. armory at Harper's Valley, W. Va.

The various clandestine planning sessions of John Brown, the bearded man of god behind the wrath against the abomination of slavery, include other known names of the day, including Frederick Douglass.

As fiery and pentecostal as Brown is, Douglas is thoughtful and more politic - would this violent act truly aid or push back the cause for which they were both fighting? Wasn't there a skinny politician from Illinois that had a chance to take the presidency get slavery done?

For a presentation that is tense with impending action, there are some thoughtful discussions and a lot of references to the Bible that propel Brown to his actions. As for his followers, how ready are they to also believe? And those of us sometimes sitting alongside these characters in the seats, how are we?

All of this has increased historical weight in just where it takes place in Anacostia - across the river from the U.S. Capitol, very near the hill where Douglass lived out his life - on land settled by the Nacochtank people, something the theater company points out before the play begins.

There is also the impact of time, with "The Raid" opening on the week when the bicentennial of Douglass' birth is being celebrated.

Nicklas Aliff portrays Brown as a younger man than we would expect from the wild-eyed, long bearded man in John Stuart Curry's famous portrait. Huskier too. But he's got a brown beard anyway and most important of all, the religious fervor and moral righteousness that drove the determined freedom fighter. Josh Adams, as his sideman, is loyal but has a few of his own thoughts.

Marquis D. Gibson plays Douglass with a reserve and wisdom, with an eye on the prize but his own way to get there. Dylan J. Fleming is especially good as a quiet associate who keeps his thoughts to himself, up to a point.

They and the rest of the ensemble - Tiffany Byrd, Robert Bowen Smith and Moria Todd - are all very strong, particularly when rendering much larger battles, accomplished in a striking choreography by director Colin Hovde, with Cliff Williams III, Smith and the ensemble.

The urgency of the play matches the questions that linger for the living at the play's end.

Running time: About 80 minutes, no intermission.

Photo credit: Nicklas Aliff and ensemble of "The Raid." Photo by C. Stanley Photography.

"The Raid" continues through March 18 at the Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Place SE. Tickets at 202-241-2539 or online.

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