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Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. Everybody Also see Susan's review of Right to Be Forgotten
In Everybody, playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has reinvented the 15th-century morality play Everyman for a modern audience. Like the original work, it's an allegory that follows one representative human being coming to terms with the impending arrival of Death (personified by the unflappable Nancy Robinette). But not only has Jacobs-Jenkins brought the language and attitude of this medieval play into the 21st century, he has also found an ingenious way to show the universality of the story: five of the actors (Alina Collins Maldonado, Avi Roque, Kelli Simpkins, Ayana Workman, Elan Zafir) are credited as "Somebodies," and they don't know until they're onstage which roles each will play as determined by a lottery. At this performance, Zafir played the title character. Director Will Davis kicks things off with Yonatan Gebeyehu as a theater usher presenting the most amusing pre-show speech one could imagine. (Then Gebeyehu turns into God.) After a brief history of the play and the selection of actors and roles, the action begins on Arnulfo Maldonado's austere white set as Death confronts Everybody, who begins searching for a friend who will accompany him into eternity. He visits Friendship, relatives Kinship and Cousin, and Stuff (material goods), each encounter illuminated in a different color by lighting designer Barbara Samuels. Time (Clare Carys O'Connell, age 9) and Love (Ahmad Kamal) also appear. Balloons serve as a visual and spiritual touchstone for the performance as ephemeral objects, easily burst, thus analogous to human lives. Still, despite a cast admirably prepared to appear in 120 different configurations of roles and a run time of only 90 minutes, the play slogs rather than soaring.
Shakespeare Theatre Company |
