Classic American history theater for readers who are weary of The Crucible and Inherit the Wind.
In his debut play, Wheatley (A Song of Africa, 2011) illuminates the life of an African-American poet and explores both colonists’ and slaves’ desires for liberty.
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), born in West Africa, was captured by slavers in 1761 and sold to Boston’s John Wheatley. The Wheatley family didn’t treat her like an ordinary slave, instead giving her an unprecedented classical education in literature; she eventually became America’s first published black poet. The playwright, who may himself be descended from the Boston family he portrays, zeroes in on the events of Nov. 4 and 5, 1772, when Phillis stood trial to prove her authorship of her poems. The first act shows the Wheatleys preparing for trial, with Phillis rehearsing lines and John and his son, Nathaniel, discussing issues such as abolition and taxation. Nathaniel is a patriot—“How can we ignore tyranny?” he demands—but John is a Loyalist. With these characters, the author offers a perfect, miniature illustration of the Colonial debates over British rule and slavery’s continuation. Meanwhile, his portrayal of Phillis comes across as simultaneously humble and erudite, as she references Shakespeare, John Donne, Alexander Pope, John Milton and Christopher Marlowe. Act 2 re-creates the trial, using characters’ actual words wherever possible. Massachusetts Gov. Thomas Hutchinson, the defense lawyer, frames the case idealistically: “I thought today we could perhaps take a step toward reconciliation.…The common ground I speak of lies in art, and poetry.” The prosecution asks Phillis to identify some verses and list her influences; it’s particularly interested in her metaphorical use of the word “Americus” and the phrase “fair freedom” and in whether she harbors a political agenda. Phillis admits that her position in life influences her writing but insists she was only describing the colonists’ plight. “I am what I am. I cannot be what I perceive others may want me to be,” she passionately declares. The trial’s result provides the play with a heartwarming, triumphant conclusion. The work’s prefatory materials and stage directions can seem long-winded at times, but this is a relatively minor drawback. Overall, the historical figures come to vibrant life in the author’s illustration of the primacy of freedom: “Today we have been reminded by a slave girl how precious is our liberty,” Founding Father John Hancock declares at one point.
Classic American history theater for readers who are weary of The Crucible and Inherit the Wind.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0615645315
Page Count: 242
Publisher: The Trial of Phillis Wheatley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
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