THE 1041C Theater Reviews

Free Man of Color are one of those few artistic creations that grasp you intention from the beginning to the end.  When i sat down in my seat i expected a serious play because the set and lighting prior to the performance set an eerie feeling.  But when the play started I could tell that this would be a fun and entertaining play.  The entrance of the main character Jacques Cornet and Cupidon Murmur really signified what the play would really be about.  Both of the actors, Jeffrey Wright and Mos Def respectively, did a great job of making the audience laugh and in a sense prepare them for the play.  The costume designs for Jacques Cornet were flashy and beautiful and it also portrayed what kind of a character Jacques Cornet is.  It signified his boasting personality and his value on materialism.  There were also many other talented actors in the play that I had no idea would be in the production.  Joseph Marcell, known as the butler from Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Paul Dano, from the critically acclaimed movie There Will Be Blood, Mos Def, a commercially successful hip hop artist and many more.  Many of these actors were highly qualified in their fields and were experienced actors who really brought the show to life.  The play itself was ingeniously put together.  Side by side comparisons were done at the same time, a character might freeze and other characters around him/her unfreeze and start their own scene.  This gave a chance for the audience to make connections between these characters, who might seem unrelated but in reality had many similarities that wove the whole play together.  Joseph Marcell’s character cleared up any misconception the audience might have of the scene and adequately explained the scene on hand.  The set design created for the play was also beautiful.  The most vivid scene i remembered was when Jacques Cornet was running through the New Orleans swamp.   A series of distorted fabrics and neon colored background gave the same ominous feeling of the swamp, it brought the play alive.  Throughout the show there were many great laughs but the depravity of the climax really grasped the audiences attention.  Throughout the play, the main character created this happy mood by telling jokes, his relationships with woman, and how he treated his friends and family.  This all comes crashing down in the end, with the destruction of Jacques Cornet brought by America.  The end was a climactic moment that made the audience think about American politics and history.  It certainly made me want to learn more about the past and culture of New Orleans and America itself.  It made me think, a task that many play’s don’t accomplish.