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The Ballad of Emmett Till
By Ifa Baywza
Directed by Oz Scott
At the Goodman Theatre
170 N. Dearborn
Chicago, IL
Call 312-443-3800, tickets $23 - $70
Wednesdays at 7:30 pm
Thursdays at 2 & 7:30 pm
Fridays at 8 pm
Saturdays at 2 & 8 pm
Sundays at 2 & 7:30 pm
Special Tuesday performance May 27 at 7:30pm
Running time is 2 hours, 30 minutes with intermission
Through June 1, 2008
Powerful drama that ignited the modern Civil Rights movement doesn’t cover enough history.
The Ballad of Emmett Till, now in a world premiere at the Goodman Theatre, contains a mixed bag about the tragedy of Emmett Till. The play has its moments and accomplishes the true essence of the personality of Emmett Till but act two wanders about after several scenes vividly depicting the torture and death of Emmett Till.
Act one spends much time showing us what an energetic, spontaneous and exuberant 14 year old boy Emmett Till (the energetic and charming Joseph Anthony Bryd) was. He is a strong willed and bluntly talkative teen who loves life. He is determined to live in the moment despite having polio and a stutter. His mother, Mamie Till-Bradley (Deidre Henry) struggles to raise him with respect for people. Emmett loves to dress in style and exudes warmth and a manic spirit. I believe playwright Ifa Bayeza spent too much time early on showing Emmet’s personality and his life in 1955 Chicago.
In act two, Emmett is visiting his relatives at Mose Wright’s (John Wesely in a strong performance) Mississippi share crop farm. Emmett continues his precocious zest for fun and pleasure despite the cultural deprivation of Blacks in rural, segregated Mississippi in 1955. One Saturday night, Emmett and his relatives/friends visit a white operated store. Emmett is alone with Caroline Bryant (Kristina Johnson). Emmett purchases candy placing the dime directly into Caroline’s hand. That is not done as Blacks don’t touch white women. Emmett, in an exuberant teen impulse, whistles his admiration for Caroline as his ride leaves the street in front of the store.
A few days later, the J. W. Milam (Chris Sullivan) and Caroline’s husband, Roy (Cliff Chamberlain) visit Mose Wright’s cabin at 2 am determined to find the “Chicago boy who disrespected Caroline.” The two have guns and abduct Emmett. The play demonstrated the cruel torture and murder of Emmett. These powerful scenes went a tad too far depicting his torture.
The trial was covered much too lightly and the historical impact of Emmett Till’s murder wasn’t covered deeply enough. I wished that Mamie’s staunch determination to get the media to demand justice was covered in more detail. The historical significance of the murder together with the courage of Mamie and the Chicago Defender newspaper were not given their just due in this play. False endings and a surreal ending didn’t emphasize the effect of this tragedy.
Emmett Till’s death started the long effort for racial equality so the impact of his being one of the early martyrs must be highlighted. The play sure depicts the goodness and innocence of Emmett and graphically deals with his gruesome murder but the total historical significance isn’t emphasized as it should have been. There is no mention of the fact that after the killers were acquitted, they got paid $4,000 from Look magazine to admit they murdered Emmett Till.
Still, The Ballad of Emmett Till contains enough drama to be worthy theatre. A cut of 20 minutes from act one and a more complete historical perspective in act two would serve the play nicely. I would advise a clearer ending. A story of the importance of Emmett Till’s needs to be tighter and more complete. He deserves the highest level of respect as does Mamie and Mose Wright who testified in court against the accused.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: May 5, 2008
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