PicksInSix Review: Relentless - TimeLine Theatre Company
Relentless — “We all have our secrets”
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy
The gifted playwright Tyla Abercrumbie’s absorbing and expertly-crafted new play “Relentless,” succeeds on so many complex and interwoven levels that it is difficult to know exactly where to begin to celebrate the artistic triumph of this landmark world premiere production—the first in TimeLine Theatre Company’s 25th season—that opened on Thursday night at Theater Wit.
Director Ron OJ Parson and an astounding cast, led by the riveting performances of Ayanna Bria Bakari, Jaye Ladymore, Demetra Dee and Rebecca Hurd, delivered a spellbinding new work that is among the best seen yet during these troubling times. Born out of a pre-pandemic development process in TimeLine’s superb Playwrights Collective program, “Relentless” is a generational story of the Black experience in America from the Civil War era to the early 20th century through the eyes of one family and the tumultuous times in which they lived.
Set at a pivot point in the Black Victorian era in 1919, sisters Annelle (Bakari) and Janet (Ladymore) have returned from Boston to their family home in Philadelphia following the death of their mother, Annabelle Lee (Dee). There are family secrets to be disclosed through the diaries of their mother— whose birth name was Zhuukee—which disclose her early life and existence in chattel slavery to the family of Mary Elizabeth (Hurd).
Early on, as the sisters are closing their mother’s house, the younger, free-spirited Annelle chides the conservative nurse Janet into a relationship with Franklin (Xavier Edward King) a friend of her husband Marcus (Travis Delgado). Janet yearns for revolutionary change and her stoic objectivity is every bit a match for the activist Franklin’s desire to have power through wealth and stature. Marcus’ rage is palpable; his justification for revenge permanently seared into his childhood mind. Along the way, Annelle’s fear for her family’s future deepens and she is conflicted by a past that she would rather leave undisturbed which culminates in one of the evening’s most startling revelations.
Framed in pain and grief, the dark, troubling times of oppression is a clear-eyed reflection of the racial divide of our times. Bakari’s heart-wrenching performance and the overwhelming resolve that churns within Dee’s powerful portrayal of the young Annabelle in the face of the pressure brought on by Hurd’s southern aristocracy breathe life into Abercrumbie’s rich, profoundly poetic text. In the hands of Parson—truly one of our great interpreters of new works—the humor, pathos and inhumanity of this piece strike often with stunning force and immediacy.
In addition, Parson has assembled an extraordinary creative team including scenic designer Jack Magaw and lighting designer Heather Gilbert who have created an elegant setting for an array of exquisite Christine Pascual period costumes. Original music by Christopher Kriz and projections by Mike Tutaj complete one of the most visually satisfying and dramatically fulfilling experiences you will ever have in a theater.
PHOTO|Brett Beiner
TimeLine Theatre Company
presents
RELENTLESS
Theater Wit
1229 Belmont Ave.
through February 26, 2022
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