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Hes sufferingandwhat hes done isnt okay.
Violent antisemitism is real and once again rising in the world,andIsrael is acting indefensibly in Palestine.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkinss writing lives entirely and electrically in the space of and.
InAppropriate, the air is so clotted its barely breathable.
There was a big debate about whether to update it, Jacobs-Jenkinstold the New YorkTimes.
Although that makes sense, whats striking is that the play doesnt sound like a smart period piece.
First, theres Toni (the absolutely fearsome Sarah Paulson), eldest of the Lafayette siblings.
and 8-year-old chaos-rocket Ainsley (I saw Lincoln Cohen, who alternates with Everett Sobers in the role).
Is this the whole show?)
Spirits are as real as we are, warns River, and shes more right than she knows.
The Lafayette homestead has blood in the floorboards, in the lake, in the trees.
Their song softens but never goes away (Is this the whole show?Noandyes).
Rachael drops it as if it has just emerged from a 500-degree oven.
It lies there smoking.
Itisfunny, and it does burn.
Crucially, though, its not played for laughs.
In 2014, my predecessor, Jesse Green,disagreed: He saw the Lafayettes as nasty and flat.
Neugebauer has bravely steered in the opposite direction.
She and her actors are taking the risk of taking these people seriously.
And it is a risk.
I believe that everyone onstage is suffering, Jacobs-Jenkins told theTimes.
They all believe they are suffering.
But how do we judge howcanwe judge someone else as suffering or not?
When Franz crumples in agony, shouting, Its been ten years!
How much more am I supposed to suffer for my mistakes, Toni?!
To Franzs siblings, hes Frank, and River admits to Toni that her given name is Patricia.
Whose forgiveness is needed?
That apology isnt yours!
shrieks Toni at her brother Bo as he half-heartedly moves to accept an Im sorry from wayward Franz.
That apology isnt for you to accept!
That forgiveness isnt for you!
Paulsons voice hoarsens and cracks; fury leaks out of her pores.
Its inappropriate if we dont want to associate with it, if we refuse to lay claim to it.
Who is Emmett Till?
asks Cassidy, Googling around on her phone.
I dont know, replies River.
I didnt enslave anybody!
screams Bo, his reasonable facade finally crumbling into the jagged shards of shortsighted white resentment.
Neugebauer is doing fine work with the whole ensemble, and Paulson and Stoll provide a supercharged core.
Wasnt I doing what I was supposed to be doing?
In a moment of deadly calm, she says to her brothers, You know what I just realized?
Ive known both you idiots your whole entire lives … Toni sees herself as having spent her life caring for others.
She sees her father as having cared for her.
Horribly, both are the truth.
What really takes care is the unlearning.
But that is a house that the Lafayettes havent yet acknowledged they own.
Appropriateis at the Hayes Theater.
