An Often Confusing Journey

Marys Seacole – An Often Confusing Journey

In Griffin Theatre Company’s new production that opens its 33rd season, the audience should heed a word of advice. In order to fully appreciate and understand what they’re about to experience, patrons should take time, before the play begins, to read the lengthy article, written by Dr. Kristina Huang, that’s included inside the program. It explains in “Who Was Mary Seacole,” that she was a Victorian Jamaican medical practitioner and adventurer. Armed with this abbreviated knowledge about Mary Seacole will definitely help the audience comprehend this bizarre, often confusing time-traveling journey.

 This Midwest Premiere was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Jackie Sibblies Drury. She may be remembered for Steppenwolf’s production a few years ago for Young Audiences of her “We Proudly Present…” This was another somewhat confusing play about a group of young people trying to create a performance piece about a true, horrific and largely forgotten incident from African history. Like “Marys Seacole,” that play also involved time-travel and ended up being a condemnation of racial relationships in America.

Drury’s new play opens with a talented and commanding performance by Stephanie Mattos (seen recently in Streep’s “Light Falls”), as the courageous Mary Seacole. Statuesque and beautifully dressed in a red plaid hoop-skirt ensemble, created by talented costumer designer Anna Wooden, Mary opens the play by delivering a powerful monologue about who she was and how her proud, Scottish/Jamaican parentage offered her both opportunities and restrictions during her lifetime. But then the play takes a sharp turn, confusing the audience by suddenly shifting from the mid-1800’s to 2022.

Instantly we find Ms Mattos dressed now as a contemporary healthcare worker in a nursing home, caring for Merry (sensitively portrayed by India Whiteside), the feeble, elderly mother of May, a snippy white woman (portrayed by Jesi Mullins with all the venom of a true “Karen”) and her typically moody teenage daughter, Miriam (nicely played by Izzie Jones). Mary helps her aide, Mamie (in a sweetly acted performance by Mackenzie Williams) to clean and care for the lady. Drury then continues to flip-flop her tale between the two time periods, constantly jolting and often baffling the audience with this muddled, disjointed format.

Among other things, the audience views and compares how healthcare between the two time periods hasn’t really changed. During the long 95 minute one-act, we experience vignettes that feature a young woman delivering a sad monologue about how motherhood has made her feel both alone and never alone. The ghost of Mary’s Mother, Duppy Mary, shoves an earbud into her daughter’s ear, supposedly so she’ll be able to hear her from beyond the grave. A bitchy Florence Nightingale appears a few times, refusing to accept Mary Seacole’s help during the bloody Crimean War. These scenes, and so many others, tumble haphazardly onto Joe Johnson’s sparse set design, which only consists of Matt Sharp’s suspended circle of light, six wooden chairs and two matching bureaus, from which props can be taken, used and then hidden away again.  

In addition, Mary and Mamie speak with thick Jamaican accents (kudos to Adam Goldstein for his diligent dialect coaching). However, during most of these exchanges, it becomes increasingly difficult to understand much of what they’re saying. While I admired the actors’ dialect work, when an accent overtakes the dialogue it becomes a detrimental to the play. And yet, when the wonderful RjW Mays, who plays Duppy Mary, finally speaks near the end of the play, she’s completely understandable. Brava to this talented actress for not only creating a powerful character without many words, but for mastering a subtle Jamaican dialect during the play’s final moments. 

It’s just not clear if the juxtaposition of the two time periods is so confusing and frustrating because of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s writing, or if the direction simply isn’t clear enough. Jerrell L. Henderson and Hannah Todd, the two experienced, talented directors of this production, certainly have large, respectable resumes of credentials. And this superior cast of impressive, talented actresses—particularly the incredible Stephanie Mattos in the title role—definitely bring everything they have to offer to their performances. But whatever it is, a drama about such an important historical figure, whose pioneering work in healthcare earned her a memorial statue at St. Thomas Hospital in London, demands a finer theatrical depiction than this strange play.         

Somewhat Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented October 1-November 6 by Griffin Theatre Company at Raven Theatre, 6157 N. Clark St., Chicago.

Tickets are available in person at the box office, by calling 773-338-2177 or by going to www.griffintheatre.com.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.