cultural_philistine
HAL_9000Review of Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train (Belvoir St Theatre)
September 18th 2007 23:35
It begins with a character mumbling in the dark, stumbling over the words of the Lord's Prayer, but pushing himself to keep going, while prisoners around him yell at him to shut the fuck up. You soon discover the man's name is Angel Cruz (played by Ryan Johnson), that he's 30-years-old and Puerto Rican, that he tried to save his friend from a religious group, and that he's charged with attempted murder of the preacher ("But I just shot him in the ass").
After Angel is assaulted and raped by fellow inmates, he's transferred to the "VIP Lounge" section of the prison, and there he meets Lucius "The Black Plague" Jenkins (played by Wayne Blair) -- a self-confessed serial killer who's now a born-again Christian. Lucius has two main problems -- the smaller being an arsehole and atheist prison guard (“Valdez”, played by Ashley Lyons), who cracks down on “infractions” and declares his moral superiority; the larger problem being an extradition hearing -- if Lucius is returned to Florida he'll face the death penalty.
So is Angel a believer or a non-believer? Is Lucius' conversion authentic? Do either of them regret their deeds? Will either of them win their court cases?
There's basically no set, there are minimal lighting and sound effects, the characters are stereotypes, and the God theme might seem unattractive. But if you buy a ticket, this will probably be one of the best plays you'll see this year -- better than many STC productions (despite their enormous production budgets).
Have faith, my child, and believe.
Memorable moments would include: Valdez spitting on Lucius; jokes about getting shot in the ass; a recitation of Bible names while jogging; stories by good cop D’Amico (Alan Flower) and lawyer Mary Jane Hanrahan (Anni Finsterer); Lucius' first contact with Angel; Angel's desperate praying; various elaborations of ideas (like "what I'm going to do when I get out of here"); and the way the cast covered up for each other when they dropped objects.
There were good performances from all of the actors, bringing life to the stereotypes. Noteworthy was a brilliant and physically exhausting performance by Wayne Blair.
As for the writing, the main plot-questions create little suspense, and there's not much development of them, and I don’t know if it’s clear what the hell an “’A’ Train” is -- but for all that you're going to find there are almost no flat stretches. The images are vivid, the character interactions are engaging, the dialogue is interesting (Lucius has the mouth of Muhammad Ali). And the scenes are truthful, in the way they follow reactions from moment to moment.
"People don't stop being people," says D’Amico. Like many a faith play, Jesus Hopped The "A" Train is ultimately less about God than human nature.
~~~
Jesus Hopped the “A” Train is playing at the Belvoir St Theatre from Thursday 13 September to Sunday 7 October 2007. Basic tickets are $29, unless you’re going on pay-what-you-can Tuesdays, or on Wednesday 19 or Thursday 20 September and can quote the “Jesus $20 offer” when you book.
Including intermission, it runs for about two and a half hours.
~~~
Creative team: --
Written by Stephen Adly Guirgis.
Some random comments (probably more for people who've actually seen the play): (1) what happened to the subplot with the hard-ass prison guard; where did that go?; (2) the temporal ordering of the final scenes was clever -- achieved some interesting effects; (3) the play itself is a lot more entertaining than the blurb suggests, no?; (4) I liked the addition of a time limit to Angel’s final scene with Lucius; and (5) do you really care for Lucius by the end of the play? Do you feel any compassion? Or, more to the point, have you achieved any understanding of why he did what he did? There’s a late attempt to give some sort of insight into his murders -- hand-waving towards an abused childhood, drug addiction, mental illness -- but does this create any empathy?
I think it’s fair to say that the play is very carefully written -- hardly a word wasted, and well-expressed (“He must have found another oreo man down there”).
Directed by Wayne Blair.
Production designer -- Jacob Nash.
The cramped dankness of Belvoir Downstairs added to rather than detracted from the experience.
I sometimes think imaginary furniture is more engaging than real furniture -- it forces the audience to participate in the visualisation.
At any rate, it pulls less attention from the actors.
Lighting designer -- Stephen Hawker.
Cast: --
Wayne Blair as Lucius Jenkins.
I reckon if one were picky one could find something to remark on, along the lines of “Should have been more physical characterisation” or “Should have been more layers added to this or that moment” -- more regret or guilt for instance…
But here’s one mark of how good a performance it is -- that after seeing it, it’ll be difficult for you to imagine anyone else playing Lucius Jenkins. Blair has put his stamp on the role.
And after a few minutes, you forget that he doesn’t look that African American.
And, like I said, it’s very high energy. Be wary of sitting in the front row -- you may cop some sweat or spittle.
Anni Finsterer as Mary Jane Hanrahan (Angel’s lawyer).
A decent performance as a neurotic New Yorker, which complemented the seriousness of the other characters. Commanded the audience’s attention during her monologues. I think it’s fair to say, though, that she and Angel weren’t always connecting in their scenes with one another. They were at times a bit lost while the other was talking, and were to some extent pre-empting responses. But this improved as the play progressed, and I imagine it’s the sort of thing that will improve as the run progresses.
Alan Flower as D’Amico (good cop).
Seemed to have stepped straight out of a New York police drama. Perfectly cast.
The accents of all the cast, incidentally, must have done dialect coach John Higgins proud.
Ryan Johnson as Angel Cruz.
Sometimes a bit lost while other characters were speaking, and I don’t think he was completely convincing as Puerto Rican (something to do, perhaps, with the flexibility of body language).
That said, this was a beautiful performance. He had great fun with the expressive power of Puerto Rican accent and behaviour, and showed off the range of his acting skills (Angel Cruz is the main character that changes in this play).
Ashley Lyons as Valdez (bad cop).
A good performance, though to my taste there needed to be more complexity to the character, and it detracted from his power that he blustered so much.
~~~
What’s the play about?
Website says: “Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train is about what we truly believe to be right. It’s about contradiction and hypocrisy. It’s about faith, morality and the essential nature of what it is to be human.” -- Well, these things were included in the play ‘tis true, but, yeah, the website’s hyping it up.
Wayne Blair’s director’s notes note: “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train is a play about the meeting of justice and humanity.” I don’t know if this is what the play is about as such, or whether Blair is mainly thinking of: (a) Angel’s criminal but understandable act; and (b) one scene in the play where the morality of capital punishment is touched on. Blair goes on to write: “Guirgis talks about redemption, purgatory and religious fervor all in the same breath”, which may be closer to the mark. “I can’t tell you how good that is to explore and sometimes frustrating”.
Flyer says: “[Guirgis] asks the question: what does it mean to be saved?”, and I didn’t properly bring out this dimension in my review, but I reckon, if you interpret it broadly enough, that this is the fairest of the three descriptions… though I also think it’s never a good idea to reduce a play to a sentence.
~~~
Further reading: --
-- Belvoir website -- quotes The Age as saying “What makes the play absolutely gripping is not only the plot and the suspense that hangs over everything, but the philosophical and religious beliefs that are fiercely contested and imbue the whole work with tragic irony.” Personally, I think any philosophical content was Sunday school level. But anyway...
-- Sydney Morning Herald preview -- Blair comments: "The original New York production was directed by a fellow LAByrinth collective member, Philip Seymour Hoffman... This is an hour-and-a-half of solid, intense writing, amazing characters and, if we can get it right, I think it's going to be one of those experiences that you don't forget."
-- Jason Blake in The Sun-Herald (23/9/07, page 20) writes: "Amid the self-conscious ghetto lyricism, outbreaks of macho anguish, eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations, and heartfelt monologues, it’s not always easy to see what playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis is getting at, but Jesus Hopped seems to make the point that religion and the justice system are dependent on belief or at least a suspension of disbelief." I personally didn't get this at all, but, hey, infinite interpretations of text, right? He also notes: "Anni Finsterer makes good the somewhat stereotypical role of a chip-on-the-shoulder public defender prepared to break the rules and Ashley Lyons heavies very effectively as Valdez", so I'm glad to see that all the stereotyping I was banging on about wasn't just my imagination.
-- At Australian Stage Online, James Waites notes: "The original production... received sparkling reviews from New York City's most demanding critics, including Ben Brantley at the New York Times and Michael Feingold at the Village Voice. Master technicians of their craft, both noted the plays strengths [sic] lie more in its sequence of outstanding dramatic moments than in any all-encompassing thematic overview", which is kind of what I said, so yay me, master technician that I am. Waites also gives an interesting overview of the play's history.
-- In his Sydney Morning Herald review, Bryce Hallett writes of the lawyer that she was "shrewdly played with a bruised and sardonic air". Maybe this is a better description than my "neurotic New Yorker".
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