A Lesson Before Dying

There is a real challenge in adapting great works of literature into plays. As with film, when deciding to compact a book into a two-hour production many choices must be made. In the theatre, however, even more must be sacrificed because you are limited in stage size, technical abilities, cast sizes, etc. Circuit Playhouse’s recent production of A Lesson Before Dying was a poor attempt of adapting Ernest J. Gaines’s book by the same title.

First let me highlight some of the positives on this production. I must applaud Playhouse on the Square’s staff for selecting a play that should be regionally applicable. The story of A Lesson Before Dying deals with a young African-American man who is accused of a murder that he did not commit, and because of his inability to adequately express himself or follow the proceedings of the courtroom, he is sentenced to death. His aunt convinces the boy’s former school teacher to come and meet with him. What makes this story unique is that there is never an attempt to overturn the verdict. Instead it is the story of a man who gains his dignity through education, through understanding what it means to be a man and to die with the knowledge that you are as good as anyone else.

This southern story is a great fit for Memphis, a town of decades of racial strife, and it presents a message that is applicable to all people. This play should spark discussion among those who see it, but the adaptation gets in the way of the message. Romulus Linney, the play’s adapter, chops the story into many short scenes which breaks up the general flow of the play. The audience is never taken into the world of the play. You feel like you are watching a lyric soprano trying to get through a Mozart aria while suffering from the hiccups.

The performances were also not fluid, and this also seems to relate to the “choppy” nature of the production. Characters operated often on two levels, either intense anger or intense sadness. There was very little in the middle. Jefferson, the convicted man, often verged on melodrama, making his performance at times almost comical. There were obvious line fumbles and other mistakes that also took the audience out of the play. The best performance was given by Keith Patrick McCoy, a resident artist at Playhouse on the Square right now, who had a clearer view of the role he was playing. There were strong moments in his performance that really drew in the audience.

A Lesson Before Dying runs from February 10^th, and I would recommend it if you were able to use a CODA $5 ticket, but if you have to by the normal $20 student rate that the Circuit Playhouse requires, I would advise you to skip this one and wait for a future production.