Windy City Times review of ‘The Rant’
Feb 24, 2010 in Reviews
| The Rant THEATER REVIEW by Catey Sullivan 2010-02-24 |
|
 |
|
| Playwright: Andrew Cast. At: Mary Arrchie Theatre at Angel Island, 735 W. Sheridan. Phone: 773-871-0442, $18, $29. Runs through: March 28
About midway through The Rant, a world-weary reporter uses a pair of real-life rape accusations in a shockingly inarguable demonstration of the way facts can be used to “prove” whatever you want them to prove. In dialogue referencing a white woman’s 2003 rape charges against Kobe Bryant and a Black woman’s 2005 rape charges against a group of white Duke University students, playwright Andrew Case depicts a worldview that’s tragic and undeniable. Guilty or innocent—it doesn’t matter what you believe about Bryant or those Duke boys ( both cases were settled out of court ) : Newsman Alexander Stern ( Earl Pastko, spot-on as the hard-bitten, clear-eyed product of countless graveyard shift police blotters ) can show you’re a racist either way. Truth, Case illustrates in his riveting drama, isn’t necessarily about justice. It’s about proving your point. Directed by Sharon Evans, The Rant is everything you’d expect from a piece defined by the daily, devastating ambiguities of crime. Mary Arrchie’s production is gritty in its uncompromising realism and provocative in its exposure of the the unending, slippery grayness of a criminal justice system we’d all prefer to think of in terms of stark, easily grasped segments of good and bad, black and white. The story begins as Denise Reeves, a Black woman, arrives at the office of Lila Mahnaz, a light-skinned lawyer who bristles when her minority credentials are questioned. ( “I’m Persian,” Lila spits when a Black cop scoffs at her ability to comprehend racism. ) Reeves is demanding justice for the murder of her unarmed son by a white police sergeant. Lila is instantly sympathetic, the case seems cut and dried. But Case lets us know from the onset things are not as simple as they seem. Lila ( Lindsey Pearlman, ably portraying a cauldron of barely contained resentment and righteous anger ) wants vengeance as much as justice. She believes her motives are pure, but in truth, she’s pursuing an agenda she’s had since grade school. By getting the white bastard who murdered Reeves’ Black son, Lila will even the score against all the playground injustices she suffered at the hands of lazy, fat, stupid, white kids who ( she asserts ) all grew up to be cops. Case’s tightly structured plot thickens as Lila interviews the accused sergeant’s Black partner, Charles ( Emanueal Buckley, deftly capturing the hellish internal conflict that comes with a cop’s inflexible adherence to the Thin Blue Line and a Black man’s anger at the racism of his fellow cops ) . Charles makes it glaringly apparent that the grief-stricken Mrs. Reeves ( Shariba Rivers, a white-hot flame of sorrow and rage ) has withheld crucial information that virtually destroys her credibility as a witness. The result is a complex, meaningful whodunit, with the implications of the mystery’s solution becoming as important as its answer. SOURCE: http://windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=25656 |
|
