Review: (Toronto) Shakespeare's Nigga

Sascha Cole and Andre Sills (photo credit: Keith Barker)

MORE THAN A NIGHT AT THE META-THEATRE
joel fishbane

At once mesmerizing and frustrating, Shakespeare’s Nigga, the new play by Joseph Jomo Pierre, succeeds best as a showcase for the talents of two men: director Philip Akin and playwright / actor Pierre himself. Neither man has held anything back in bringing this difficult play to the stage and the result is a challenging work that will astound some, bewilder others and give everyone something to talk about on the ride home.

Set as a fantasy that takes place in the head of William Shakespeare (John Jarvis), the Bard imagines himself as a cruel slave owner living with two of his characters: Othello (Andre Sills) and Aaron, the moor from Titus Andronicus (played by Pierre). Othello has ingratiated himself with his master but Aaron is in chains for trying to escape. The plot eventually thickens when Shakespeare’s daughter (Sascha Cole) begins visiting Aaron in the dead of night.

All the performances are solid but it’s the perfect union of design and narrative that is the play’s greatest strength.

Director Akin seizes our attention with one striking visual after another, all of which barrels towards a stunning coup de theatre when Shakespeare’s fantasy world falls apart. He’s helped by a crack team of designers, including set / lighting designer Trevor Schwellnus and a gorgeous horse costume by Lokki Ma that transforms Sascha Cole into a ghostly stallion who cannot be tamed. All the performances are solid but it’s the perfect union of design and narrative that is the play’s greatest strength.

The text, however, remains problematic. The play’s central conceit depends largely on its audience having a working knowledge of Shakespeare’s canon – the script references sonnets, plays and, of course, the plots of both Othello and Titus. And while the premise has dramatic weight, there is a surprising lack of tension (or story) for much of the play’s first half. At the start of the play, Shakespeare falls into his fantasy but we never see whether the fantasy changes him in any way, a plot point that would give the fantasy (and hence the play) its dramatic purpose. 

All of this risks making the play something of a meta-theatrical joke for Shakespeare acolytes while leaving the uninitiated feeling a little lost. As a playwright, Pierre seems to have been uncertain how to turn his premise into a story and at times neither action or character ever move forward. This is what makes the script so frustrating: we are introduced to a fascinating world but are kept at arms length from the people who live in it.

And all the while we are treated to some gorgeous dialogue that echoes Shakespeare’s own florid prose. Pierre’s performance, meanwhile, remains both strong and brave as he spends much of the play being used and abused by ally and enemy alike. Pierre is such a magnificent presence that it’s hard not to sympathize with him, even as he descends into the sort of cruelty that we would expect from the villain Aaron in Titus Andronicus.

@joelfishbane

There is no doubt that Shakespeare’s Nigga delves into some disturbing themes, much of which still needs to be discussed as we head into Black History Month. It’s hard not to recommend the show despite its flaws. The sight of Pierre in chains and the sound of the lash on his back is all we need to be reminded of slavery’s legacy, something which marks this play as something far more then just a night at the meta-theatre. 

Shakespeare’s Nigga by Joseph Jomo Pierre plays at Theatre Passe Muraille until February 23.