The Slave Play by American writer Jeremy O Harris shocked many audience members on its off-Broadway debut in 2018. Interracial relationships are always a charged topic, and Harris’s play pushes the envelope when it comes to nudity, and not just sexual content, but content that will undeniably provoke many sensibilities.
The nature of the story and what exactly it examines unfolds over a three act structure, where the highly charged opening gives way to discussion, and what may not be resolution exactly, but an ending.
Harris offers no easy answer — no answers at all — to the question of how to heal from the rippling effects of global slavery as they resonate in today’s world. When Black and white partners fall in love, the shadow of that past, the social consequences, can’t simply be denied.
According to the playwright, who wrote the work while still a grad student, that complex history is a background.
“All the plays I’ve written so far have been stories in and around love,” said Jeremy O. Harris in an interview. “Slave Play [is] about the impossibility of loving blind of history and also about how to navigate the fact of power in the context of the stories that are written upon us because of things we cannot control.”
Sexuality offers a graphic illustration of those hidden dynamics. But, it’s not a gloomy message. As in life, pain can be transformational.
LV spoke to director Jordan Laffrenier about the play, and the Canadian Stage production, the Canadian premiere of the work.
Jordan Laffrenier
Award-winning director Jordan Laffrenier is also known as a dramaturg, producer, and educator. Jordan is currently the associate artistic director of Canadian Stage and Prime Mover Theatre Company. Formerly, he was artistic producer of Theatre Sheridan.
In an interview with Intermission magazine, he describes how his white grandfather and Black grandmother experienced everyday racism in their hometown of Hamilton, Ontario.
He consulted a psychoanalyst and therapist on the script, and the nature of generational trauma.
Jordan Laffrenier: The Interview
“I think that the show is absolutely provocative, and part of what’s provocative about it is, it’s getting at a kind of truth that is really trying to uncover the truth of the secrets we try to keep.”
Slave Play made its Broadway debut in 2019. Jordan saw both the NY and more recent London productions.
“I felt that, in both audiences, they were incredibly moved by the piece. They laughed so much,” he says. “And I think, both audiences were challenged by the piece,” Laffrenier adds, “a lot of the piece is about the legacy of slavery and how that continues in the present day.”
As he points out, the UK has its own role in the history of slavery. “In both the UK and Canada, that history is largely ignored,” Jordan says.
“I think in a Canadian audience, we don’t learn about it.” It’s also a tie-in to the themes of the play. “I think that’s what the play is trying to get at, a bit. Slavery is present. It’s here, even for a Canadian audience.”
Harris’s play revolves around basic issues that aren’t exclusive to interracial relationships.
“The play is really about relationships, and every relationship comes with things that are tangled. How do we untangle them?” Laffrenier asks.
“Perhaps more interestingly, how do we listen to ourselves within a relationship? How do we transform ourselves and change ourselves to be in the relationship we’re in? How do we access the fullness of our identity? It becomes even more charged in an interracial relationship.”
Even more than the usual quota of compromise seems to be a part of those romantic partnerships.
“In this play, these characters are losing a part of their identity within this relationship.”
Through the course of the play, they regain it.
Slave Play In Today’s World
The year 2018 seems awfully far off; today’s political landscape makes the issues of race even more urgent. How to live in today’s world with the legacy of North American history is a crucial question with very real repercussions, adding even more relevance to the play’s themes.
“Absolutely. It’s only grown in significance. It’s one of the things that makes the play so great,” Laffrenier says. “I think a big part of that, it’s about putting relationships at the centre of the play.”
Since it’s not trying to capture a specific moment in time, Slave Play avoids being outdated too quickly.
“The play wasn’t ever trying to be about a current moment,” he says. “This play is about a festering wound. That wound won’t heal for a very long time.”
Ignoring or denying it hasn’t worked so far. “It lives under the surface, and finds ways of bubbling up. You can’t keep under the surface. You can’t keep a secret, eventually that secret gets revealed.”
What happens when we don’t deal with history? The Slave Play focuses on the emotional consequences.
“It doesn’t wave a finger at anyone,” Jordan says.
Final Thoughts
Laffrenier has been working with the script for some time.
“It’s been an extensive preparation process. I started working on the play last November,” he says. “As of October, it’ll be a full year of actively thinking about [the play].”
It’s a challenging work for the actors involved.
“I think that the play asks these actors to reveal a lot, and it’s incredibly challenging,” Laffrenier notes.
The play’s overt sexuality has garnered many of the headlines, but the depth of Harris’s script offers more than that.
“Jeremy’s gift with the writing is the play is so funny.” The humour balances the heavier moments. “It’s really made us ask ourselves deep, deep questions. What are the ways that we’re not listening to ourselves? Are we listening in our relationships?”
All the work comes to the stage soon, with previews beginning on September 27, and opening night on October 1. The run continues until October 26.
“It’s been a really fun play to work on, but it’s also been really challenging,” Jordan says.
“It’s a play that opens up your heart.”
- Find show details and tickets — with come dates sold out — [HERE].
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