Bondage

By Star Finch

Directed by Jiles R. King II

Produced by Undermain Theatre

In his opening night pre-show speech, Bruce DuBose, the Producing Artistic Director of Undermain Theatre, smilingly shared with the audience that he’d taken to describing Bondage, by playwright Star Finch, as an “Afro-surreal gothic horror play”, which statement the audience embraced with some hearty laughter. And while there was more laughter from the audience during the play that night it was generally more of the nervous titter of uncomfortably giddy variety rather than guffaws, for Bondage is a play meant to be off-putting, uncomfortable, and flesh crawlingly creepy, and this production squarely hits that mark.

Bondage takes place pre-Emancipation on a small island in the Caribbean. The setting for this Afro-surreal gothic horror play is the plantation’s manor house. Robert Winn’s sparse Set Design gives an appropriately ethereal quality to the manor house, as it contains only a few basic sticks of furniture, indicating a main dining room center, a kitchen prep-area stage right, and a small sitting room stage left, with the main dining table center stage sometimes doubling as a bed when that stage area is used to represent a bedroom. Half-walls at the back of the set are topped by four windows, allowing us an otherworldly ability to see “through” the walls and watch characters as they enter or exit around the front of the house.

The tone is set right at the top as, before the lights come up, we hear a fierce storm, a sound effect used repeatedly during the play, and then an oddly sensual humming of what otherwise would be merely a child’s simple tune. As the lights come up, we discover the source of the humming, a young black woman in a chair writhing, smiling, and rolling her head, as her hands rub up and down her breasts, thighs, and body. This is Zuri, a 13-year-old slave girl, played with fierce conviction by Victoria Lloyd. And she’s not alone as sitting nearby is a young white woman, 14-year-old Emily, played by Christina Cranshaw with manic passion, and a flouncing childlike physicality, who begs for Zuri to teach her how to do the same.

Now, both actresses are older than the characters they play, perhaps in their 20’s, but this opening scene is only the first of many featuring a crude sexuality, oftentimes between the two pubescent girl characters, but sometimes between Zuri and her master. The girls’ menses is mentioned often throughout the play and there’s a much later scene with a blood-covered hard-boiled egg that I will not describe, except to say I was shocked, which I believe is a reaction the playwright hoped to evoke, and many times did, throughout the play.

This is Zuri’s story, and, with the onset of puberty, Zuri must use her wits to outsmart the twisted desires of her drunken master and a sadistic mistress on the haunted plantation. Aiding Zuri is Rhonda Boutté’s rocksteady Azucar, an older, somewhat sadder, and much wiser house slave, especially when it comes to handling the white folks. Boutte’s delivery of Azucar’s obviously hard-won wisdom from a life of slavery is spot-on as she shares her insights with Zuri, such as “White promises are like rotten watermelon … Looks sweet, but not worth a swallow”.

Jim Jorgenson’s Philip is a word-weary yet casually cruel master, for though tortured by his past he’s learned nothing other than he yearns to escape, along with Zuri, just as long as it’s to somewhere else where he’ll still hold all the power. Likewise, his dead wife’s sister, Ruby, played with a tight-jawed thin-lipped tension by Kristi Funk Dana, is also well-versed in the ways of slavery and the role of mistress of the house. Both Jorgenson’s and Dana’s portrayals are a little too on the nose, with little nuance and shading, but it’s clear that it’s both the writing and Director Jiles R. King II’s direction that have set them firmly on this very narrow path.

Hierarchies of race and gender collide in Bondage, the tale of an enslaved girl who dares to follow her own instincts toward liberation by any means. This story is, appropriately, a truly twisted and ugly one. Bondage continues through Oct 15.

Audience Rating: M due to mature content, numerous explicit sexual references and several implied sex acts

Running Time: One hour and 20 minutes, without intermission

Accessible seating: Available

Hearing Devices Available: Not Available

Sensory Friendly Showing: Not Available

Production Sound Level: Comfortable Volume

Noises and Visuals to Know About: A bloody hard-boiled egg is snatched by a girl from underneath her skirts.

See you at the theater!

David Ellivloc