When We’re Ready: ‘Slave Play. Not A Movie. A Play.’ Review
Jeremy O. Harris’ groundbreaking genre-bending masterpiece Slave Play has become one of the most uncomfortable yet important plays to ever be put on stage. The play’s original New York Theater Workshop production was nominated for 12 Tony Awards but sadly received none. The project and its enigmatic playwright Jeremy O. Harris are the subjects of the documentary Slave Play. Not A Movie. A Play. The documentary showcases the history of the play, dissecting the points of conflict in each scene, and the overall inspiration behind the play. The film’s direct cinema leanings make for a raw unflinching look at a difficult play that chips away at the audience’s comfort with the subject matter.
The film’s unique style and approach to its narrative structure could be considered off-putting by it’s loose-flowing nature but its structure works within the context of the film. The documentary intercuts between passages of Jeremy O. Harris discussing how the play is meant to make audiences uncomfortable, to table reads of scenes from the play, to talking head segments of the New York Theatre Workshop cast, showing scenes from real performances and showing a clip of a white woman berating Jeremy O. Harris as he’s doing a Q & A. The film is structured in three acts, as is the titular play, and the film follows those acts with a loose chronology of scenes and clips from each act anchoring the film’s wandering nature.
Ultimately, the strength of this film comes from its unflinching nature. The film spotlights some of the play’s toughest scenes to sit through, such as when an interracial couple Kaneisha and Tom role-play as master and slave at the MacGregor plantation: an antebellum cotton plantation themed group therapy excursion for interracial couples. Kaneisha, who initiated the idea to come to the MacGregor Plantation, insists upon calling Jim master while Jim is visibly uncomfortable with it. The film follows this particular scene from the table read lead by Jeremy O. Harris to the stages where it was performed to how Harris created the scene out of thin air while describing the plot of the play by one of his friends. The documentary takes the uncomfortable subject matter and spotlights it in a way that forefronts the purpose behind this scene in particular.
The film handles this subject matter well. After all, Jeremy O. Harris seems to be at the forefront of the creative side of the documentary. Harris’ vision comes through in a way that few documentaries can capture. The film’s structure of showing us how the play is made while also showing us the reactions to it and the stories behind it all add a personal touch that keeps the viewer enthralled with the hard-to-watch diegesis of the play.
Another strength of this film is the way it portrays Harris’ vision for the subtextual dimensions of the play. Harris wants the narrative to be played as a comedy of sorts. Using dark humor to make a statement about our cultural narratives about race. Through the 8 people in the play, Harris wants to draw connections about the different power dynamics in interracial couples. Instead of showing the play as something of a cultural wrecking ball the film instead humanizes the play as a satirical take on what the audience has to deal with in real life. The play shines a harsh spotlight on the audience but the documentary provides a look into the vision and the intent behind the play.
The editing of this documentary is also one of the highlights. Taking such a regimented schedule-driven medium like theatre and turning it into a free-form look into the play the playwright takes an adept hand in the editing room. Alongside the direct cinema and Robert Wiseman's influences in the “fly on the wall” shooting style the editing also takes influences from Dziga Vertov and the soviet montage era of documentary filmmaking in its freeform nature. The overall structure and framing device of this documentary is that it’s meant to be a performance of the play in and of itself. Hence the title. That is why the film is broken up into acts and ultimately shows most of the scenes from the play chronologically. The editing handles this well too. The structure never feels overbearing and it keeps the viewer engaged in smart ways such as opening the documentary with the clip of the white woman berating Jeremy O. Harris in the middle of a Q&A.
Ultimately, I find this to be a well-made documentary about one of the most important plays of our generation. Seeing such a harsh representation under a humanizing spotlight that focuses on the meaning behind the play without further sensationalism. The documentary takes a look further at the creative dynamo behind the play what drew them to the subject matter and how personal it is to Harris. The film has a unique voice that is raw and unflinching in its presentation. The film’s unique style of intercutting between online reactions to the play, to scenes being performed from different productions, and cutting back to the playwright talking about how those scenes came to be. Overall, everything about this documentary works. It fires on all cylinders from the first few minutes and takes a very intriguing look into a groundbreaking play as it is being performed. Slave Play. Not A Movie. A Play. is a truly special documentary that needs to be seen to be believed.
