Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Its mission is urgent and its title desperate, yetHelpis full of a certain dramatic lethargy.
By doing so they naturally enjoy the benefits of swimming with the currentsuccess comes more easily.
However, the dominant culture is colorless.
Rankine, one of the countrys most acclaimed poets, essayists, and thinkers (what hasnt she won?
), is not a playwright.
So how do her modes of speech translate to the theater?
Her texts do need help to become drama; essays dont just grow into theatrical events untended.
Helpstheatrical choices are more anemic.
(The audience applauds.)
Within this category, there are many names for me.
(The audience applauds.)
Things get dicey, though, when the show pivots from the auditorium to the spectacle.
(It does not do the evening a favor to constantly remind us of this.)
Theres a bit of Mitch McConnell, a bit of Trump, a bit ofAmy Cooper.
But when the narrator jokes She just likes you more, his response intrigues her.
He perhaps thought I was speaking about him, and blushed.
Did he understand I was joking about white male privilege?
It didnt seem so.
He brought both hands to his cheeks as if to hold in the heat of this embarrassing pleasure.
They also create stage pictures that run counter to the shows own ethic.
Matthis puts the microphone away, and the two characters simply speak with one another.
Its lovely and difficult and useful.
For a show about dialogue,Helpsure makes us wait a long time for an actual one.
Should Rankines material be a lecture?
Or this quasi-dramatic piece?
Helpis at the Shed through April 10.
