PUDDIN ‘N PETE
at Shattered Globe Theatre
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Ultimately West’s outlook is more optimistic than she would have us believe at first, however, and her optimism is so infectious, her characters so multilayered and human, and this production, directed by Gilbert Wadadazaf McCauley, so sensitive that it’s easy to overlook some of the more predictable turns in the plot.
“Every day you have to reevaluate–you have to marry him all over again,” observes Puddin, wondering if the warmth and security Pete gives her are worth the absence of sparkling conversation. Pete, meanwhile, must struggle to maintain his dignity under Puddin’s well-intentioned efforts to improve him. He clashes with her friends and her decor; when she’s not distrustful, she’s often dismissive. The backdrop for their conflicts, but separate from them, is racial tension: a white teacher looks askance at Pete while alone in a corridor with him; black students snub new, white student Ariel; Puddin’s friends make concerted efforts to bridge any racial gaps with her (Cindy Orthal’s nasal delivery of “I hear you talking, girlfriend” is delicious) while openly condescending to Pete. This is racism with a light touch–maddening, but not obvious enough to do anything about, a fact of these people’s lives.
The casting of Robert is a puzzle. It’s hard to get hold of a copy of this script, so I don’t know if it was the playwright’s or Turner’s idea to cast a white actor. In either case it may be an attempt to make a point–you can be white as a lily, yet with one drop of African blood you’re treated like dirt–but that point gets lost in the absurdity of the script, this production, and the sight of Barcelona onstage.
