The Whipping Man
We now interrupt Pepys Week to let you know about The Whipping Man, a play by Matthew Lopez that premieres next month at the Manhattan Theatre Club.
Tonight, thanks to an invitation from our friend Marcia Pendelton at Walk Tall Girl Productions, Jenn and I were invited to a preview of the play, including a read-through of a scene from the first act and a Q&A with the playwright, director, and cast, which includes Andre Braugher, Andre Holland, and Jay Wilkison.
Jenn and I are long-time fans of Andre Braugher, having enjoyed his work in Glory, Homicide, and House (and even The Mist). Jenn couldn’t come last night, but I enjoyed the opportunity to see Braugher and the others in person and to get an early glimpse of what looks like an intriguing play.
The Whipping Man is set at the end of the Civil War. A Confederate soldier (Wilkison), the son of a wealthy Jewish merchant family, has returned to the family home in Richmond, a city that lies in ruins. He is severely wounded, his religious faith shaken. There he meets two of the family’s house slaves (Braugher and Holland), who take care of him. Each of them has been raised as a Jew. It is Passover, and Abraham Lincoln has not yet been assassinated.
What follows is apparently an exploration of the meaning of freedom. Lest this seem too philosophical, director Doug Hughes promised tension and drama, including (he repeated as if were a particular selling point) an onstage amputation. As the Times wrote, reviewing an earlier production in New Jersey, “Anyone who tends to faint at the sight of blood may want to arrive late for performances at Luna Stage for the next several weeks.”
I had thought that the title of The Whipping Man referred to a scapegoat—a whipping boy who is grown up but still taking punishment. Hughes explained that in fact it refers to the man that urban slaveholders would rely on (in the absence of a plantation overseer) to outsource the job of whipping their slaves. This man is apparently significant to the play, but thankfully (unlike the amputation) remains offstage.
