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Play Review: Kara Burke & Devon Phillip shine in stage production of “Dutchman”

Title:  Dutchman

Production: College Production, Hunter College

Rating:  Excellent, two thumbs up.

Starring: Kara Burke, and Devon Phillip.

Absolutely spectacular.  Riveting;  touching, and, an extraordinary discussion starter — at a time when as the play states America is Dying. 

Comments:  Burke’s quintessential performance as a would-be racist woman  nails the  idealism set in the 1960 ‘s.    In 1960’s America,  interracial connections, weren’t exactly a  colloquial encounter that occurred often (at least not in public).

Set in the year 1960, Clay (Devon Phillip) encounters  Lula (Kara) on a suburban New York City Subway. Clay; a decently dressed,  peculiar man  finds himself in the midst of a would-be  (and convincing) racist woman named Lula.  Lula; fairly tall, petite, and unusually over-the-top convinces herself that Clay is another “typical type of man” because she claimed he was staring at her buttocks.

Theater actors Lula (Kara Burke) onset left and Clay (Devon Phillip) are pictured on set of Dutchman, a 1960 ‘s play about interracial connections; manipulation, and racism.

Lula’s  knack for sexual prowess plays well, and, dramatically at that.  Seductively  eating an Apple, she, embarks on what could be described as a never-ending train ride attempting to manipulate (the n****) into having sex with her after the party she knew nothing about.  Burke’s performance as Lula was both well-executed, and, perhaps on point minute-by-minute throughout the play.

Her inevitable, and,   convincing use of racial epithets towards Clay helped aid the entire point of Dutchman.  Originally written and produced by Amiri Baraka, Dutchman,  was told from a perspective in which  displayed and erected 1960 ‘s racism and destruction at a time in which people like Clay would’ve normally been silenced.

Both performances from Phillip & Burke masterfully presented a story that symbolized one important piece of history: the discussion of slavery. Phillip ‘s  direct-and-confident performance towards Lula’s  adverse and often titular manipulative tactics, led, to a play that  was well worth the watch.

Clay (Phillip) portrayed what many don’t see in African American men.   His standing ability to convince audience-members that his passion behind Afro-American people; his Anglo-background (among other things) left a play that left many  questioning their own stance on racism and interracial connections — even more than 40 years after the original play was written.

Final critic comments:  Two thumbs up for Kara Burke & Devon Phillip as the main characters of Dutchman.  Kudos to the production team for their set;   their music choices,  and their overall execution of a play so vital and important to Afro-Anglo and African American culture.

Star Rating:  Four 1/2 Stars

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