‘Fairview’ –Written by Jackie Sibblies Drury. Directed by Pascale Florestal. Scenic Design by Erik D. Diaz. Costume Design by Becca Jewett. Lighting Design by Aja M. Jackson. Sound Design by James Cannon. Fight and Intimacy Choreography by Amanda O’Donnell. At the Roberts Studio Theater, Boston, through March 11, 2023.
by Linda Chin
SpeakEasy’s highly-anticipated Boston premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning Fairview is billed as a bold and disarmingly funny play. Set in the tastefully appointed home of the Frasiers, a seemingly typical, middle-class Black American family, in contemporary times (a portrait of the Obamas adorns the living room wall), the play opens with the household abuzz with preparations for Grandma’s birthday celebration. But lest audience members expect to sit back, relax, and laugh for the duration of this 100-minute, intermission-less play, be “fair warned” that only the first of the three acts is a comedy (and includes a fair share of family drama that I found both familiar and funny). Its sitcom style is reminiscent of popular shows of earlier decades, like The Cosby Show, The Jeffersons, and Family Matters.
To reveal any more would be to give away too much of the story and the clever plot device of Fairview, but what audience members will experience is an immersive, thought-provoking production created and executed with care, skill, and intention. Cast members Yewande Odetoyinbo (daughter, wife, sister, mother Beverly Frasier), Dom Carter (her husband Dayton), Lyndsay Allyn Cox (her sister Jasmine) make their returns to SpeakEasy, and are spectacular. Dorchester native and recent Boston University graduate Victoria Omoregie makes a brilliant SpeakEasy debut as the Frasiers’ teenage daughter Keisha, especially impressive given the high bars set by the professional actors in the company. (The voices of Russell Garrett, Maureen Keiller, Jon Vellante, and Gigi Watson appear offstage in Act II, as well as on stage in secondary roles in the final act.)
That all the actors deliver pitch-perfect performances (and the designers seamlessly contribute to the storytelling) comes as no surprise given Pascal Florestal’s previous SpeakEasy directing experience with Once on This Island. Fairview has the many moving parts, staging, technical and synchronicity requirements of a musical theatre production (and unlike many musicals, an intelligent, elegantly written book), and Florestal rises to the challenge.
Although I had the honor and privilege of seeing original cast members perform an excerpt of Fairview at the January 2020 Steinberg Playwright Awards ceremony honoring American dramatists Jackie Sibblies Drury and colleague Lauren Yee, I came to this performance without having read or seen the full play and was unprepared for its powerful impact. Prepare to laugh, cry, and be in awe. For tickets and information, go to: www.speakeasystage.com
