REVIEWS

Gabriel

There is some excellent work going on over at Surf Reality, and it is the work of a scrappy multi-national company calling itself Theatre Lazuli. While their play could stand a bit of the physicality that occasionally muddies its staging, there is at its heart an enormously compelling tale.

The story, which may not ring as familiar as that of, say, Alex Haley's Kunta Kinte, turns out to be far more interesting and bizarre. It tells of Gabriel Prosser (Shawn Shepard), a slave and skilled blacksmith in early nineteenth-century Virginia who rallies over 1,000 slaves, free black men, and sympathetic whites in a revolt against Richmond . Unfortunately, a terrible storm, the likes of which Virginia has not seen in ages, and a fellow slave who (in the resultant chaos) informs his master of Prosser's insurrection conspire to foil the slave's attempts. Betrayed, Prosser escapes and finds his way to a ship where he is given safe harbor by a white captain, only to be betrayed shortly thereafter by another slave seeking his own freedom.

The evening belongs to Mr. Shepard, whose heartful portrayal of Prosser gives the play its heart and soul. That he does not posses Prosser's physical immensity (the program relates that Prosser stood over 6'3”) matters little here; his performance fully embodies the character's enormity of spirit. He is joined onstage by author/director Sandra Stockley and Vanessa Turrisi as dancers-cum-Greek chorines who intermittently comment on the action. This aspect of the production is at best diverting and at worst distracting; one gets the impression that the play would work better as a one-man show, of which Mr. Shepard proves he is more than capable.

High marks to Theatre Lazuli, which conceived the show in Australia and cast it in the States, for its 200 th anniversary. Additional kudos to sound designer Richard Smith, whose work here is of consistently high quality.

-Eric Winick