“The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington” reviewed by Paul Lisnek

[rating=5] “The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington” by Pulitzer Prize winner James Ijames and directed by Whitney White, is a biting comedy that will have you thinking about the true contradictions of our own American history. It should be noted at the outset that the frequent laughter emitted by the Mt. Vernon slaves themselves in character is not born of humor or happiness at all. It is anger…it is sarcastic, it is ironic laughter. The play is genre-blending and forces the audience to deal with the very values on which this country was founded and built.

Americans like to see ourselves as the model for the world in every way; but truth be told, we have a history and plethora of mistakes including the horrible treatment of others. Our explanation is that each terrible period of time in which Americans mistreat other groups, well, it’s all just a product of its time. Slavery was wrong, but George and Martha Washington had slaves.  Yet one opening premise of Miz Washington is that their slaves will be freed upon the death of Mrs. Washington. So clearly, the Washingtons had a sense that owning other people was wrong, but they were just a product of their time, right? And so Ijames recognizes that we are to be conflicted over the reality. Are we to honor them? Do we now reject them? Or do we simply try and understand them and try and find the good in their overall contributions to the earliest days of our budding democratic republic and overlook the reality we prefer not to think about?

The play shows us that the slave class knew better than anyone that America was and is far from being the land of the free; as for Martha Washington (delightfully played by Cindy Gold) she clearly illustrates that even the founding mothers and fathers of our nation did not get it. They thought they treated the slaves very well,but we best not talk about the sexual abuse or demeaning of slaves as less than human because Martha and her ilk couldn’t see it or recognize it. In fact the historical character of Ann Dandridge (wonderfully portrayed by Nikki Crawford) was actually Martha’s half sister but Martha doesn’t want to hear it. All she knows is that she has treated Ann well through the years and tells her so. Perhaps the reality of it all is revealed thru Ann’s response to that assertion, which is met with silence.

The play opens and revolves around the slaves owned by the Washington’s surrounding Miz Washington’s bedside as she is clearly in her final days of life. And knowing from the outset that the slaves would be freed upon her death the giddy slaves make it clear that only Martha Washington herself hoped for her own survival. The slaves? They are counting the moments until their own freedom.

This is an ensemble piece with superb performances by all players including Sydney Charles, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Celeste M. Cooper, Victor Musoni, and Donovan Session along with Ms. Cooper and Crawford.

The show is a fun and grand spectacle to watch. It is told through a series of dreams so that permits the playwright the freedom to integrate history with a sense of the absurd, although perhaps the absurd is really not an unfair reflection of the historical reality.  It incorporates drama, comedy, game shows, vaudeville, grand pageantry. It’s 90 fast paced moments, without an intermission that brings the story nearly full circle by its conclusion. It will have you thinking as you leave the theater and stop in one of the many nearby restaurants for reflection and discussion.(For us, that discussion took place at the delightful Summer House Santa Monica just a couple of blocks walk from the theater).

The show has closed at Steppenwolf…running time: 90 minutes without an intermission

Steppenwolf is located at  1650 N. Halsted Street in Chicago

For info and tickets  visit www.steppenwolf.org