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Payback
by Nicholas Seeley
Waitin' 2 End Hell reviewed May 27, 2004
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| Waitin' 2 End Hell |
| Photo Credit:National Black Touring Circuit |
| William a. Parker is bitter as hell, and he’s not afraid to say why. It’s what women do to men that drives him up the wall.
Parker’s play Waitin’ 2 End Hell is currently in its New York City debut, directed by Woodie King, Jr. and produced by the National Black Touring Circuit.
It's a bitter, vulgar, often hilarious and occasionally insightful tour through what it feels like to be a man who sees women taking control of the bedroom, the police, the divorce courts, and leaving a man with no recourse except to the physical strength he can’t dare use.
Even to a scarred veteran of the gender wars, the play sometimes seems frighteningly misogynistic, its main female character a latter-day Delilah lacking any shred of warmth or empathy, whose rage over old injuries leaves her no self worth except what she finds through castrating and controlling the men in her life.
Waitin’ tells the tale of Dante and Diane, a middle-class black couple with children, whose 12-year marriage begins to unravel in a web of power-playing and manipulation. The issues aren’t exactly new, but unlike many “issue plays,” Waitin’ succeeds in making them immediate. The characters' discussions of gender roles and social equality, while sometimes didactic, still ring true as the kind of arguments friends have after dinner and a few too many glasses of wine.
While it’s clear Parker is out to chronicle the anger and distress of the alienated black male, the play retains some balance. If Parker’s women are demonic, his men aren’t saints either, and the play makes space for the grievances of both sexes, and the ways in which each feels disenfranchised by the other.
Parker has a knack for putting his finger on the issues real people fight over; he unerringly points out how trivial squabbles over politics contain the seeds of marriage-killing troubles.
The script is helped by some able performances. Marcus Naylor is strong as Dante, though his acting tends to be overwrought: his bellows of rage and frustration seem more appropriate to the Lincoln Center Opera House than an intimate off-off space. Trish McCall has less to work with as his wife, Diane, but she plays the role of a heartless harridan for all it’s worth. The show-stealers are Ron Scott and O.L. Duke as Dante’s buddies Alvin and Larry – they bring a wealth of humor to their scenes and make it look like the easiest thing in the world.
Roger Predmore's set is lovingly built, and King's staging is simple and unforced, allowing the words and ideas to do the heavy lifting here.
Late in the second act the action drags, as Parker, having exposed his characters’ frailties and infidelities, appears to have trouble deciding how to end their stories. The dialogue begins to seem forced, as characters continue to debate issues long after their emotional investment in them has been played out. The end, while laced with a vicious sense of payback, leaves the play’s questions unresolved – as they remain for many American families.
While Waitin’ specifically chronicles the decline and fall of a black family, the issues it raises are universal, and are presented with a humor and gruesome humanity that makes them fresh and interesting.
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47th St. Playhouse
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Category: Drama
Written by: William a. Parker
Directed by: Woodie King Jr.
Produced by: National Black Touring Circuit
Opened: May 27, 2004
Closed: June 20, 2004
Running Time: 2 hours
Theater: 47th St. Playhouse
Address: 304 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10036
Yahoo! Maps Directions
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Tickets: $15.00
TDF Vouchers accepted
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Creative Team
Written by: William a. Parker
Directed by: Woodie King, Jr.
Produced by: National Black Touring Circuit
Light Designer: Antoinette Tynes
Sound Designer: Anthony J. Dixon
Set Designer: Roger Predmore
Costume Designer: Stephanie Rafferty
Cast
O.L. Duke as Larry
Elica Funatsu as Angela
Trish McCall as Diane
Eric McLendon as Mark
Marcus Naylor as Dante
Ron Scott as Alvin
Thyais Walsh as Shay
Crew
Stage Manager: Stacy Waring
Property Manager: Paul Donahue
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