The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
THEATER REVIEW Starcrossed lovers? This won’t end well
Verboten love is arguably morality’s greatest contribution to literature and art even before Pyramus and Thisbe first held hands during fourthgrade study hour. “On the Grounds of Belonging,” in its world premiere production at Long Wharf Theatre, scrutinizes what happens when a black man and a white man helplessly in love suddenly find themselves (like a prisonescape movie) 50 feet short of freedom and caught in crossfire without time or resources to improvise their way safely home.
Playwright Ricardo Pérez González’s “On the Grounds of Belonging,” which continues through Nov. 3, is, oddly enough, a play about hope. Set in segregated Houston during the Eisenhower era, it’s an incandescent love story set in what seems like a Kafkaesque nightmare. Our heroic lovers,
‘ON THE GROUNDS OF BELONGING’
Long Wharf Theatre, through Nov. 3. 7 p.m. Tuesday, 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven. Box office: (203) 787-4282
Russell (Calvin Leon Smith) and Thomas ( Jeremiah Clapp), like their literary ancestors, unequivocally appreciate the risks involved in such a relationship. They’ve read “Romeo and Juliet” (well, Russell has, at least) and know that, should they live long enough to cheer ringside at the Stonewall Riots, they will be theater’s only starcrossed lovers to make it out alive. As much as “On the Grounds of Belonging” wants to till new ground, don’t bet on a happy ending.
“On the Grounds of Belonging,” which introduces Long Wharf Theatre’s audience to the Jacob Pedrón era, may in fact blaze its own trail insofar as it concerns a samesex, differentcolor relationship playing out before a Jim Crow/Houston backdrop. Does it, however, “set any rivers on fire”?
The inevitable devil’s advocate question remains: Is this story genuinely new? Is the illadvised team of Russell and Thomas merely Romeo and Juliet recast to capitalize on current events? If Russell was white, would we even be discussing this play? Or if Thomas was black and female?
Theatergoers can wrestle with these questions until the proverbial Judgment Day, but one may not deny that “On the Grounds of Belonging” engages our hearts with its humanity. It’s fair to say that the playwright succeeds in showing the audience how it feels again to fall in love anew. As González writes the characters, and as Smith and Clapp play them, Russell and Thomas are utterly charming.
What’s not to love? Russell is a practical, wellread journalist (so we hear) who knows better than to cross the street and risk life and limb. Thomas is so openhearted and guileless that we excuse his naivete to root for him and his crazy idea of happiness.
The supporting cast brings up the parallels between “On the Grounds of Belonging” and “Romeo and Juliet” (or “West Side Story,” if that’s your currency). Hugh (a divinely deadon Thomas Silcott) runs the black gay bar in which the action occurs. He’s a familiar character as he is humbly wise and fiercely principled. Much like Doc in “West Side Story,” Hugh is a black, gay survivor in a world of homophobic white supremacy. Unlike Doc or Shakespeare’s Friar Lawrence, Hugh plays in the starting lineup on this racial battlefield and is not simply a fan on the sideline. His skin in the game is his own.
Henry (Blake Anthony Morris) is Russell’s black shadow, so to speak. He’s a charmer, oozing with sexual appetite and just enough danger to put others on guard. He’s strictly third wheel when Thomas starts crossing the street. Not that it would surprise you, but Henry doesn’t react well when he discovers what he considers Russell’s ultimate betrayal: loving a white man over him.
Then there’s Tanya (Tracey Conyer Lee, another ringer), the bar’s chanteuse that González employs to drive home leitmotif during scene transitions. She’s presumably straight and needles the lads for sport, but she’s willing to roll up her sleeves and whoop up on some flat tops if they come for her men. If Hugh is this play’s Doc, Tanya proves its Anita when her temper clouds her judgment and makes bad matters worse.
Most curious of the secondary characters is Mooney Fitzpatrick (a chilling Craig Bockhorn), who actually owns Hugh’s place as well as the gay white bar across the street. If Mooney doesn’t exactly personify white supremacy, it’s because he defies archetype. Mooney is no stock cracker from “Easy Rider” but rather a relatively wellheeled gay redneck capable of exceptional love and compassion while matteroffactly threatening a black man with lynching. Just when you think he belongs in the stock villain tab, he reveals a bloody heart.
“On the Grounds of Belonging” chugs and glides along fairly predictably for the first hour of its 105minute performance. After the characters have been established, theatergoers are likely sure of where this story will end. González then surprises his audience with twists and a conclusion that may defy expectation and yet leave many unsatisfied.