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<\/a><\/p>\nKendrick “KayB” Brown, TiMOThY ERiC, Wykesha King, and Krystal Uchem in Main Street Theater’s production of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by Ossie Davis.<\/p>\n
Photo by Pin Lim \/ Forest Photography <\/p>\n
It\u2019s hardly a spoiler to say things don\u2019t go exactly to plan in Purlie Victorious, a still stinging satire that proves to be resonant today, 64 years after it originally premiered. It\u2019s both a testament to Davis\u2019s writing and, unfortunately, an indictment of our society. The dialogue is witty and memorable, with lines like, \u201cSome of the best pretending in the world is done in front of White folks,\u201d eliciting knowing hums from members of the audience. <\/p>\n
\n Director Errol Anthony Wilks keeps the show moving and accessible, though his choice to lean fully into the comedy is at times at the expense of letting the play\u2019s more serious beats breathe (Lutiebelle laundry-listing her best traits for a second time following an encounter with Cotchipee, for example). Davis\u2019s characters are sketched in broad strokes from stereotypic archetypes, but subversive in places and bold in others, and Wilks and the cast are skillful at playing those notes. And there\u2019s no one more bold than Purlie himself.\n <\/p>\n
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Davis not only wrote Purlie Victorious, he originated the role, and you can tell it\u2019s a part he wrote for himself it\u2019s so good. Purlie is a hero, quick and clever, and wonderfully verbose. And TiMOThY ERiC, recent co-winner of the Houston Theatre Award for Best Actor, wears the role of Purlie like a second skin.\n <\/p>\n
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\u201cSomething about Purlie always wound up the white folk,\u201d says Missy, and embodied by ERiC, it\u2019s easy to see the threat he poses, his delivery convincing, captivating, and wildly entertaining. It\u2019s fully on display in the second act, as Purlie is in full sermonizing mode as he recounts his alleged confrontation with Cotchipee, traversing the stage and holding court in a way that\u2019s got the other characters and the audience hanging on every word. He\u2019s just as good at slipping in some quieter one-liners (\u201cFirst chance I get I\u2019m gonna burn the damn thing down,\u201d Purlie says of his childhood home).\n <\/p>\n
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If there\u2019s one thing, it\u2019s that at moments, the louder ERiC gets, the more likely we are to miss a word here and there, some bits just lost to the ether.\n <\/p>\n
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(The sound design, by Jon Harvey, is otherwise stellar, from the place-defining banjo-picking played during transitions, to the crystal clarity of the off-stage dialogue, and the ambience, chicken clucks and dog barks heard under scenes adding weight to the world of the plantation.)\n <\/p>\n