‘In the Blood’ updates tragedy of ‘Scarlet Letter’
Homeless, Hester raises her five fatherless children under a bridge.
She struggles to find help from anyone; some owe her money. She’s willing to give of herself to others in need, but they reciprocate with pocket change in this gritty underworld of American life.
Opening at the Aux Dog Theatre on Friday, Nov. 16, “In the Blood” is Suzan-Lori Parks’ contemporary riff on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter.”
The play runs on weekends through Dec. 16.
In “The Scarlet Letter,” set in Puritan Massachusetts in the 17th century, the proud and
beautiful Hester Prynne has a child whose father she refuses to name. Her judgmental and bitter community ostracizes her, forcing her to wear a letter “A” — for adulterer — on her chest.
Played by Angela Littleton, Hester Le Negrita possesses an abundance of love. But she is illiterate; the only letter she can write is “A.”
This handicap blocks her from a world of knowledge, inviting others to think themselves superior because they can write their hate, while she can only speak of love.
The play’s six actors play dual roles.
“She has a daughter who’s a tough girl; she doesn’t let anything go by,” director Alexandra Buresh said. “She doubles as the welfare worker. She’s very judgmental. She has a husband and children. She doesn’t understand why everyone doesn’t have this setup.”
People throw trash under the bridge. Someone scrawled the word “slut” on the wall. Hester asks her son Jabber what it says, but he loves her too much to answer.
Her life isn’t that different from her Puritan counterpart, Buresh said.
Like Hawthorne’s heroine, she is used and abused by others — her lovers, her social worker, her pastor and her best friend.
“Being female, she’s been pregnant over and over and over again,” Buresh said. “Each of the fathers has better things to do. With each (child), life becomes more difficult.”
The play was a finalist for the 2000 Pulitzer Prize.