Native Son Review

Native Son is a moving story written by Richard Wright that was recently made into a play by the Court Theatre in downtown Chicago.  After seeing the play, I can say that the play had potential, however a few elements kept the play from being what it could have been.

My dad read Native Son when he was in High School and said that he quite enjoyed the story. Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to read the story yet, but I am sure that the story was better than the play.  I personally was somewhat disappointed with the play.  One of the reasons that I felt that the play was not as good as the reviews deemed it to be was the acting.  I am no stranger to live theatre performances, although I am not a particularly frequent goer, I felt that the acting did not help to connect the audience with the plot of the play.  In short, it did not feel as natural as other plays I have seen.

Another reason I was a bit dismayed was the language used by the play.  I know that in order to portray the life of an African American in the early 20th century, there will have to be racial slurs and some profanity involved, however I think the writer of the play perhaps went a tad overboard on the use of vulgarity in the play.

Although some elements of the performance were underwhelming for myself, I thought the overall story was spectacular, and that if someone who had the opportunity to read the book say this play, they would most likely not be disappointed by the the way the original story was conveyed.