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Regional Reviews: San Francisco Head of Passes Also see Patrick's review of Talley's Folly, Richard's reviews of In a Word and Sister Play and Jeanie's review of Death of a Salesman
If ever there was a character who needed the qualities of the Strong Black Woman, it's Shelah, the matriarch at the center of Head of Passes, currently playing in a stunning production of Tarell Alvin McCraney's play, which had its world premiere at Steppenwolf in 2013. Shelah's first problem? A leaky roof. More than an annoying drip-drip-drip into a bucket in a corner kind of leak, this a true indoor downpour. Pails, pans, buckets, and towels are all enlisted in the war against the invading torrent, to very little effect. And Shelah's troubles don't end there. Her extended family is gathering at the house to celebrate a birthday she doesn't want to remember with a party she doesn't want to attend. Then, of course, there's the recent diagnosis—which she also attempts to ignore as a way of hiding it from her family—that her heart is giving out. Which is probably why there's an angel of death hovering around the house. Shelah's family and friends surround her to attempt to lift her up and support her as best they can, but Shelah, Strong Black woman that she is, doesn't want or need help from anyone, except maybe God, to whom she prays regularly and vociferously. (Primarily, it seems, to be delivered from the pain and misery of this wounded, sinful world.) Spoiler alert—there will be no happy endings here. Tragedy is piled upon tragedy, comfort and succor are offered and refused, and the response to life's vicissitudes is to curl up into a ball and wait for that angel to discharge his duty. The production itself is wonderful, and the work done by the design and technical crew is magnificent. The set—and what happens to it as the play progresses—alone is worth the price of admission. But for all her piety and faith, Shelah is ultimately a very frustrating character. Almost her every word, spoken and unspoken (don't say "devil" around her—she fears just speaking the name will call Old Scratch from his hiding place), communicates how committed she is to worshipping and serving her God. Apparently, though, she missed the bit in the Book of Matthew that says, "everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." Shelah's house is built at the titular Head of Passes, an area in the Mississippi delta where the river branches off into three main arteries before joining with the Gulf of Mexico. This is very low-lying ground, shifting and unstable—and will be one of the first places reclaimed by global sea level rise in the next few decades. And although playwright McRaney says the main focus of the play is Shelah's faith and how she uses it as "an aperture or a guide to try and understand the many, many, sometimes fraught, sometimes beautiful, often chaotic events" of her life, the play can also be seen as a metaphor for the uselessness of blind faith. Shelah's house is—quite literally—falling down. Her heart is failing. Her children reach out to help her and she spurns them. Instead of doing the concrete, real world things that would improve her life—fixing her roof, taking her medicine, accepting her friends' and family's help—she cries out over and over to a god who never answers. Clearly, this cannot lead to a good end. Though there is much to recommend here, and the power of McRaney's storytelling and language is evident, there is a muddiness that obscures the play's potential. As Shelah, Cheryl Lynn Bruce commands the stage—but as a black hole of grief and blind faith whose gravity her loved ones cannot escape. Her rage is palpable, but her performance sometimes drips into parody and she becomes a Denzel Washington in drag, keening and reveling in the misery that every Strong Black woman must endure in order to earn that moniker. Despite these faults, Head of Passes is well worth seeing. There are several wonderful performances by a well-balanced cast—Francois Battiste as Aubrey, Michael A. Sheppard as Creaker, and Berkeley Rep veteran James Carpenter as Dr. Anderson all do especially terrific work—and the staging is nothing short of magnificent. Just leave your rational mind at the door, and surrender to faith. Head of Passes runs through May 24, 2015, on the Thrust Stage at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley. Shows are Tuesdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m. (no performance 5/19), Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m., Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. (with added 2:00 p.m. shows 4/23 and 5/21), Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. (no matinee 4/25), and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.. Tickets from $29-$79, with discounts available for students, seniors and groups. Tickets are available online at www.berkeleyrep.org, or by calling the box office at (510) 647-2949 or during box office hours: Tuesday-Sunday 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
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