Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jackie Sibblies Drury’s thrillingly realized MARYS SEACOLE is dazzling, challenging theater

• By drediman
• February 27, 2019
• No Comments

Quincy Tyler Bernstine leads Lincoln Center Theater’s production of “Marys Seacole” by Jackie Sibblies Drury at the Claire Tow Theater. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

One of the most exciting plays of last year was Fairview, Jackie Sibblies Drury’s audacious examination of the African American identity and a wild– and wildly successful – experiment in theatrical form (luckily, for those of you who missed the show at Soho Rep, the production will be remounted at Theatre for a New Audience in Brooklyn this summer). Just as much of a rollercoaster ride is Marys Seacole, Ms. Drury’s latest fever dream of a play, which opened this week at the Claire Tow Theater, courtesy of Lincoln Center Theater.

The play is a fantasia based on the life and life’s work of Jamaican Creole “doctress” Mary Seacole, who administered medical care during the 1800s, most notably tending to white soldiers during the Crimean War. The play is less a biodrama and more a meditation on the largely unsung legacy she left behind, particularly as it relates to caretaking vis-à-vis the female gender and people of color. There’s no denying that Mary Seacole is a challenging play. Indeed, its whip-lash transitions between characters, time, and space are frequent, overlapping, and unexpected, resulting in a head-spinning, often confounding experience. Nevertheless, there’s no denying the dazzling theatricality of Ms. Drury’s writing and Lincoln Center’s current Off-Broadway production.

Speaking of the production, it’s been thrillingly realized by Lileana Blain-Cruz, who handles the play’s nonstop flights of fancy with fluidity and aplomb. Her cast is comprised of six fearless actors who throw themselves at the play, shape-shifting between characters throughout the show with astonishing ease and verve. In the title role (among other characters), Quincy Tyler Bernstine – one of New York’s most versatile and gifted actresses – has perhaps found the role of her career. Her performance in Mary Seacole is one ferocious piece of acting that alone is worth the price of admission, and then some.

RECOMMENDED

MARYS SEACOLE
Off-Broadway, Play
Lincoln Center Theater at the Claire Tow Theater
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through March 24