The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
A sprawling, shifting ‘Father’ grips Yale Rep
Should you attend Yale Rep’s production of SuzanLori Parks’ “Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3” — and you should — don’t be surprised when the tone of Parks’ epic trilogy shifts from classical to contemporary; coarse to poetic; or clownish to heart-wrenching. The contrapuntal tossing and turning of such contrasts refreshingly tweaks and invigorates the soul rather than trifles with the heart and intellect.
“Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3,” which continues at University Theatre through April 7, focuses on the paradox of freedom, conflicting loyalties and the irrational nature of love. Riffing freely off of Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey,” the play concerns a slave named Hero (James Udom), who dutifully joins his master, the Colonel (Dan Hiatt), in the Confederate Army on the promise of his freedom. Hero leaves behind his faithful wife, Penny (Eboni Flowers), a handful of fellow slaves and his devoted dog named “Odd-See” (as in Odyssey — get it?), whose wandering eyes reportedly rival the unsettling stare of silent film comic Ben Turpin.
The Musician (Martin Luther McCoy) starts “Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3” off singing alone on scenic designer’s Riccardo Hernandez’s stylized stage dominated by a small corrugated tin shack and two collapsed steel beams. A quartet of actors — Chivas Michael, Rotimi Agbabiaka, Safiya Fredericks and Erron Crawford — serve as an updated chorus of slaves that directly addresses the audience and make book on whether or not Hero will accompany their master, the Colonel, into battle against the Union Army.
The language, like designer Sarah Nietfeld’s costumes, combines modern argot with classic idiom to acclimate the senses to contradiction.
After much buildup, our Hero finally enters, joining the chorus in its debate of his fate, where he both teases his fellow slaves about their wagers and debates with himself
whether or not he should join his master in a wicked cause to gain his status as a legal, free man. Soon after Hero enters, Penny joins the mix, personifying Hero’s high stakes at risk, should he not win his freedom or live to enjoy it.
So goes Part 1, titled “A Measure of a Man.” Part 2, “A Battle in the Wilderness,” follows immediately to find Hero camped out in the middle of nowhere in particular with the Colonel and Smith, a captive Union solder (Tom Pecinka), as the program identifies him, who is restrained in a makeshift cage. After needling his Union prisoner about the aspects of slavery and hypocrisy, the Colonel leaves him in care of Hero, but not before revealing his humanity, lest the audience assume the worst of him as a stereotypical arch villain. This disclosure is one of several well-timed twists or epiphanies that splashes a welcome bracer of cold water in the audience’s face.
Part 3, “The Union of My Confederate Parts,” in homage to the ancient Greek story of Odysseus, has our Hero return home as Ulysses, just as in the Roman version of that Greek myth and with a nod to the commander of the Union Army, General Grant. But not before his devoted dog Odd-See (Gregory Wallace) returns ahead of him, bounding wildly back on home turf, ecstatically proclaiming his master’s return, quick upon his four heels. And though none of the characters think twice about the canine’s gift of gab, all of them grow frustrated at his evasiveness in confirming Hero’s death.
No one burns to know his status more than Penny and Homer (Julian Elijah Martinez), a fellow slave left behind because of his maimed foot, for reasons better disclosed on stage than in print. This third scene is the evening’s most satisfying because of its twists and, without question, the presence of the most lovable dog to hit the stage since “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.” Wallace nearly steals the evening with his earnest and irresistible turn in brown fur.
The rest of the cast, under Liz Diamond’s faithful, animated direction, shines as well. They all seamlessly shift gears in tone in perfect synchronization with Parks’ multifaceted script. They each do so without grinding cogs or skipping beats. It’s clear that everybody solos and duets beautifully, and it’s just as apparent that they listen and react intently and naturally. Diamond’s cast serves Parks’ play as one tight ensemble.
Any time Yale Rep produces one of Parks’ works, it’s an event. Diamond and the theater have a rich history with this playwright, rightly regarded as among today’s preeminent dramatists. This production of Parks’ sprawling, ambitious and challenging work fits that bill.