Theatre Moments: The Brother Size - AKA The Unending Cycle
It all begins with a chalk circle and the 3 men that make up the Black male cast of the The Brother Size written by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Literally the play that influenced how I made my first play and how I knew I could maybe talk about the harder aspects of Black experience emotionally without having to dress it up or devote time being apologetic about our past and present.
My first ever piece called Silver Shores utilised chalk to represent the minuscule amount of space the slaves had within the transport ships. I pushed a few more boundaries for the audience by having the first 5 minutes of the show in complete darkness, allowing the audience to only hear the voices of the characters and for their eyes to do a natural adjustment to the darkness / world of the show.
As in the below extract McCraney employs so many traditional Yoruba styles of storytelling which were probably quite novel in the American theatres that this show premiered in. Such as, the characters announce their own stage directions i.e. ‘Eating’. This can be depicted in any range of emotions by the actors so each ‘Eating’ can be both comic, sarcastic and pure frustration with each one. I adore this as it doesn’t quite constitute a 4th wall break, like in musical it’s just an inherent part of the world and isn’t commented upon but I could see a director toying with the idea of having the actors give a little nod to the audience when some of these are delivered. I’ve never managed to work such a technique into my writing but I consider it every so often.
The frustration is so palpable and understandable in this story, coming from the brotherly love and the obligation that Ogun feels to protect his brother from his stupid mistakes. But really he needs protection from the world, despite this show being set in a magical realist space it still exudes the danger that is felt by many Black folk in America. The struggle and the constant possibility of jail time or death for the slightest attempt to make a life for yourself and your family. The unending cycle is where this modern fable begins and ends as at it’s heart is the tragedy that families will be broken and real second chances are rare. But also sometimes you have a big brother to sing songs with and most importantly snatch you out of harms way.
Quite simply my favourite play ever.
Cross-media moment: This theme of the protecting older brother in racially hostile America (this time for a Latinx family) is also presented similarly in the video game Life Is Strange 2.
