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Joe Turner's Come and Gone and Left No Deep Impression
When Delroy Lindo first saw Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, in the eighties, he left not knowing what the play was about, however the play touched him very deeply. Over a few years, he learned more about the play, the content and meaning, through being closely connected to it, including acting in it.
Well Mr Lindo was lucky that he had several years to figure out the plot, I only had two acts and three hours at the Young Vic, last Friday, opening night (May 27th).
A summary of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone from the Young Vic website states …
“After seven long years, Herald Loomis has been released from Joe Turner’s slave gang. Now he is scouring Pittsburgh for the wife he left behind. And for the road that will lead him to freedom and his rightful place in a new world.”
The Young Vic is a very cosy venue, with a small centre stage, surrounded by comfy unreserved benches, or so I thought until two hours into the play when I was dying to stretch my legs, luckily for me I was on the end, not so lucky the guy sitting next to me who had long legs and no room to stretch. The floor covered in a red sawdust-like material.
The entire play takes place in a Pittsburgh lodging house owned by Seth (played by Danny Sapani) and run by his wife Bertha (played by Adjoa Andoh). Seth is a hard-working man of high morals who was born a free man, while his homely wife Bertha’s welcomes all and sundry with a plate of grits and biscuits, and finger-licking fried chicken on weekends.
Apart from a white peddler, Rutherford Selig, the ‘people-finder’, all the characters, black, some former slaves, reside for varying periods in the lodging house. The longest tenant is Bynum (played by Delroy Lindo, an old man with no family who has a ‘binding power’, that is he claims to have the ability to bring or keep people together provided they were meant to be so.
Other lodgers include:
- cheeky but charming character Jeremy, played by Nathaniel Martello-White, who tried to seduce every young woman who stepped across the threshold of the lodging house; my favourite character
- Herald Loomis (played by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) and his daughter, Zonia, Herald is looking for his wife, Martha. But Seth is suspicious of him as he is not working.
- Mattie Campbell, a young woman, who asks Bynum to bind her old boyfriend, Jack Carper who walked out on her, to her. She moves in after being convinced by Jeremy that she should not remain alone.
- However, Jeremy, does not stay smitten for long once Molly Cunningham (played by Petra Letang), an extremely attractive woman, stops by to see Seth. Molly has missed her Sunday train, and rents a room for a week.
Thoughts on the play
Like Mr Lindo, I left not sure what Joe Turner’s Come and Gone is about, but unlike him I left without a deep and lasting impression or connection. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad I went to see it, I enjoyed the well acted mini stories, but left with many questions. What was the essence of the overall story? How do all these interesting characters and their stories fit together? And who the hell is Joe Turner and what did he have to do with the characters (I know now)?
Now that I know more about this play, perhaps if I see it again I will become more engaged, and who knows perhaps I will experience a profound emotional connection. That said I recommend you see Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, enjoy the acting and let me know how you felt at the end. I’d be interested to learn what you think.
Details:
Play: Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson
Dates: 27 May - 03 July 2010
Venue: Young Vic
Performances
7:30pm
Saturday matinees from 05 June: 2:30pm
Wednesday matinees (16, 30 June): 2:30pm
Tickets: £22.50 (£15 first two weeks)
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