The Lack of Linear

Something that I think a lot of people take for granted is that time is linear.  Unless you’re the Doctor (or some other time traveler), we live our lives linearly.  However, the beautiful thing about art is that it can break the rules.  Plantation Black is one of these art pieces, a stunning play that’s currently onstage at InterAct Theatre Company.  This play takes place in two different time periods, the end of the Civil War and the present, in the same location.  There are six parts to this play, spread out between the time periods.  And not only is the timeline not presented linearly, the show could start at any of the six parts.

About twenty minutes before each performance, a cast member will come out into the lobby and roll out a ball from a raffle drum, which decides which part that performance will start from.  Six different starting points.  Six different ending points.  So incredibly interesting!  “The Wheel” is made up of these points- The Child Inside, Welcome To The War, Or a Death of White Patriarchy, The White and Black Prioleaus Meet After a Century Apart, The Sonder Outside, Welcome to the Barbecue, Or a Death of White Feminism, and The Descendants of the Formerly Enslaved Return to the Big House.  The parts are always performed clockwise on “The Wheel”.

Plantation Black is a humongous play done in two hours.  There are six actors, who each portray a character in the past and in the present.  This was done so beautifully and seamlessly.  We see three slaves in the past, and the three plantation owners.  In the present are the descendants of the past characters.  The characters share some things with both selves, but for the most part, we’re looking at totally different people.  The actors are absolutely phenomenal about tackling two parts each, and I loved watching them and what they did.

Thanks to the fact that the play is not linear, we get an extremely interesting narrative.  And it’s not just bouncing between the past and present…we see multiple points of time in each.  We see months before the end of the Civil War and days before the end of Civil War.  We see the days leading up to a fated barbecue in the present time.  To let us know whereabouts we are with each section, they show the time period on stage.  One of the most fun parts of this show is, when we get to the end, everything is tied up so nicely.

There were lots of historical points to this show that I thought were fascinating.  We see things like a plantation owner taking advantage of a slave woman, and learn about topics like heir land.  They didn’t sugar coat it all.  So many ugly things happened then, and it affected the present.  We really got to see that in this show.  History really does affect the present, and Plantation Black proves that point over and over again.  It was heart wrenching.

This play definitely wasn’t easy to watch.  Like I said before, they didn’t sugar coat things.  There were really scary things, like watching a young slave woman have to submit to her “master”.  They talked about alcoholism.  There was a female character who just wanted to live as a man.  There was the idea of ownership, and so many back and forths about right and wrong.  But even with how intense this show was, I thought it was beautiful.  I didn’t want any of it sugar coated.  Plantation Black wouldn’t be the outstanding play it was if anything was sugar coated.

The threads that were woven through these stories and characters were incredible.  As we’re watching the parts that take place in the present, things start coming together.  All these characters start figuring out who they are to each other.  And it made so much sense.  Some of it you could sort of guess was coming, but most of it sort of slowly grew from what we saw in the past.  I feel like talking about it with my mom afterwards just made me realize even more about the play.  There were so many hidden gems, and layers to peel away.  There were ethics to discuss, and a lot of questions to answer.  But we got those answers.

I wish I lived in the city and could easily go back and see Plantation Black again.  I would love to see what it’s like starting from a different part in the narrative.  And I would love to just see the show again in general.  I’m sure watching it again would reveal even more.  This is a play that has so much to it, and I bet you could get more and more from it every time.  I imagine there must be different perspectives…different clues dropped throughout.  Plantation Black is an extremely special play…I’ve never seen anything quite like it before, and I’m pretty certain I never will again.  What these actors gave us, and the tale that was woven for us, was an unbelievable gift.