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Dutchman (play)

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Dutchman
Written byAmiri Baraka
Characters
  • Clay
  • Lula
  • Riders of Coach
  • Young Negro
  • Conductor
Date premieredMarch 1964
Place premieredCherry Lane Theatre (Greenwich Village, New York City)
Original languageEnglish
Subject1900-1999, African Americans, African Americans Drama, American drama, American drama 20th century, American Postmodern Play
SettingUnderground, the subway

Dutchman is a play written by playwright Amiri Baraka, then known as LeRoi Jones.[1] Dutchman was first presented at the Cherry Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village, New York City, in March 1964 co-produced by Rita Fredricks. The play won an Obie Award; it shared this distinction with Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro.[2] Baraka's stage play was made into a film in 1967, starring Shirley Knight and Al Freeman Jr. Dutchman was the last play produced by Baraka under his birth name, LeRoi Jones. At the time, he was in the process of divorcing his Jewish wife, Hettie Jones, embracing Black nationalism, and after lamenting the death of Malcolm X in 1965.[3][4] Dutchman may be described as a political allegory depicting black and white relations during the time Baraka wrote it.[5] With Dutchman and his other works, Baraka was a respected playwright among other figures (Phyllis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison) in the Black Arts Movement.[6]

The play was revived for the first time off-Broadway in 2007 at the Cherry Lane Theatre starring Dulé Hill and Jennifer Mudge, and in 2013 was restaged by Rashid Johnson at the Russian and Turkish Baths in the East Village.[7]

Plot

[edit]

Scene I

The action focuses almost exclusively on Lula, a mature white woman, and Clay, a young black man, who both ride the subway in New York City. Clay's name is symbolic of the malleability of black identity and black manhood. It is also symbolic of integrationist and assimilationist ideologies within the contemporary Civil Rights Movement.[8] Lula boards the train eating an apple, an allusion to the Biblical Eve. The characters engage in a long, flirtatious conversation throughout the train ride.

Lula sits down next to Clay. She accuses him of staring at her buttocks. She ignores his denials and uses stereotypes to correctly guess where he lives, where he is going, what Clay's friend, Warren, looks and talks like. Lula guesses that Clay tried to get his own sister to have sex with him when he was 10. Clay is shocked by her apparent knowledge of his past and says that she must be a friend of Warren.

Lula is glad that Clay is so easy to manipulate and puts her hand on his leg. She feeds him apples. She tells Clay to invite her out to the party he is going to. At this point, it is unclear whether Clay is really going to a party, but he tells her he really is. Lula vaguely alludes to having sex with Clay at her "apartment" after the "party". We don't know if these are real or conveniently made-up by Lula.

Scene II

Clay is gladdened by Lula's apparent liking for him and maintains a hopeful attitude to having sex together. However, he does not push his hope onto her and waits for Lula to make the offer first.

Lula is angered by Clay's not falling for her manipulative tactics. She switches strategies and mocks Clay's Anglo-American speech, his college education and his three-button suit. She derides his being black and passive. She dances mockingly in an R&B style and tells Clay to join her and "do the nasty. Rub bellies".

Clay, who does not respond initially, eventually grabs her and throws her down. Clay accuses Lula of knowing nothing but "luxury". He slaps her twice and tells her to leave him alone.

Clay launches into a monologue. Clay suggests that whites let black people dance "black" dances and make "black" music. He explains that these segregatory actions assuage black Americans' anger towards whites and distracts them from accessing the "white man's intellectual legacy". Clay states that if black people stopped trying to heal their pain through dance, music, civic participation, religion, or focusing on moving upwards in American society, and became coldly rational like white people, black people would just kill all the whites and be done with racism in America. Clay says that if he were to take Lula's words to heart, he should just kill all the white people he meets.

Although Clay says all this, he deeply rejects this plan of action. He states that he does not want to kill and that he prefers to be ignorant of the problem. He says he would rather choose to pretend to be ignorant of racism, not try to get rid of it by fighting with whites.

Once Clay makes his confession, Lula changes strategies again. Clay makes as if to leave, but Lula coolly, rationally, stabs him twice to the heart. She directs all the other passengers, blacks and whites, in the train car to throw his body out and get out at the next stop.

The play ends with Lula looking towards another young black man who has just boarded the now mostly empty train car. The elderly black train conductor steps into the compartment and tips Lula his hat.

Analysis

[edit]

Symbolism: The Atlantic Trade

The play's title evokes images of Dutch ships that carried slaves across the Atlantic. The subway car itself, endlessly traveling the same course, is symbolic of "The Course of History."[9] Another layer of the title's symbolism is the myth of the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship which, much like the subway car Clay rides on, endlessly sails on with a crew that is unable to escape the confines of the vessel.[10] The allusion the Flying Dutchman also references a notable novel by Rivers Solomon published in 2019 and called The Deep. The story is set in an underwater civilization, where enslaved people who were thrown from the slave ships can live and breathe in the deep ocean.[11] This connection perhaps refers to the moment at the end of the play when Clay was thrown overboard of the moving train in the “Underground” world that resembles the “underwater” society in the novel.” Yet, the play shows that, within the context of the slave ships, Lula is the enslaver or the ship captain while Clay is one of the enslaved people.[12]

Modernity and Double Consciousness

Clay, as a Black man in the play, is a character who speaks and extends to the discussion of “double consciousness,” a term, idea, and concept that was first introduced by W. E. B. Du Bois's autoethnographic work, The Souls of Black Folk in 1903. Throughout the play, Lula’s lines, at many moments, suggested the conception of double consciousness in Clay’s dressing in a suit, self-control speech, childhood upbringing, and intellectual mannerism as an educated man. Nevertheless, these contained images burst and erupted with his heightened and raged monologue at the end of the play.[13] Double consciousness raises the question of Black identity with the experience of “dual soul.” This idea within the context of modernity specifically directs the audience into understanding and analyzing Clay’s identity as an American and a Black man in America. It is the modern discourse of African American experience in America that Dutchman emphasized. Referencing the symbolic connection of the Atlantic Trade, the concept of double consciousness draws a critical analysis of the “Black Atlantic” in Paul Giroy’s  "The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness.” Giroy, overall, argues that in the modern world, which Dutchman was set in, Black people everywhere have to carry the doubleness of their identity as a diasporic community. Nevertheless, Giroy also advocates how “dual soul” builds intercultural power that unites Black people and communities around the world.[14]

Characters

[edit]
  1. Clay: is a 20-year-old, middle-class black boy. He is college educated, and well dressed. Clay is extremely calm and well-mannered, although he finally reaches his breaking point by the end of the play. It is thought that Clay's character is both real and symbolic. Symbolizing the real struggle of a black man.
  3. Lula: is a 30-year-old white woman. She is tall, slender, and has long red hair. She is described in the play as loud lipstick, bright, and skimpy summer clothes, with sandals, and sunglasses. Like Clay, Lula is also symbolic, she symbolizes "White America". Throughout the play, Lula continues to seduce and taunt Clay.
  5. Riders of Coach: are white and black. Although they do not play an important role until the end of the play, they are witnesses to Clay's rant, and his murder.
  7. Young Negro: is about 20 years old. He is described to have a couple of books under his arm. It is suggested at the end of the play that he is Lula's next victim.
  9. Conductor: is portrayed as a happy spirited man, mumbling a song to himself, and swaying down the aisle to a song in his head. He does not appear until the end of the play.

Cast and characters

[edit]
Characters Original Off-Broadway

(Cherry Lane Theatre) 1964[15]

First Off-Broadway revival

(Cherry Lane Theatre) 2007[16]

Clay Robert Hooks Dulé Hill
Lula Jennifer West Jennifer Mudge
Young Negro N/A Justin Carter
Conductor N/A Paul Benjamin

Production history

[edit]

The table is a record list of Dutchman theater productions produced in the US.[17]

Years Theater/Company States Director
1964 Cherry Lane Theatre New York Edward Parone
1965 Trinity Square Playhouse Rhode Island Adrian Hall
1978 Monterey Peninsula College Theatre Company California Ramie Wikdahl
1997 Trap Door Theatre Illinois Michael S. Pieper
1998 Shelton Theater California Matthew Shelton
2000 Hartford Stage Connecticut Jonathan Wilson
2001 The Excaliber Shakespeare Company of Chicago Illinois Darryl Maximilian Robinson
2002 Source Theatre Company Washington, D.C. Ralph Remington
2002 Iron Age Theatre and The Montgomery County Cultural Center Philadelphia John Doyle
2007 Cherry Lane Theatre New York Bill Duke
2009 Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company Michigan LoriGoe Nowak
2014 Definition Theatre Company Illinois Tyrone Phillips
2014 National Black Theatre and The Classical Theatre of Harlem New York Carl Cofield
2014 The World's Stage Theatre Company Wisconsin Sherrick Robinson
2015 New Federal Theatre New York Woody King Jr.
2015 A.R.T./MXAT Institute Massachusetts Scott Zigler
2016 American Blues Theater Illinois Chuck Smith
2018 The Secret Theatre New York DeMone Seraphin
2019 Those Guilty Creatures New York Ryan Dobrin
2020-2021 Ball State University Department of Theatre & Dance Indiana André Garner
2022 American Stage Theatre Company Florida Erica Sutherlin
2022 Sunstone Studios Wisconsin Di'Monte Henning

Film adaptation

[edit]

In 1967, Dutchman was adapted into a film directed by an English filmmaker, Anthony Harvey. The film stars Shirley Knight as Lula and Al Freeman Jr. as Clay. According to Joseph Lelyveld, an executive editor of The New York Times, the film was shot with a low budget of 600,000 USD for only six days. Additionally, the location of play is set in with the D train, running through New York from the Bronx to Coney Island. However, it turned out that the production was located in a studio outside of London.[18] The film adaptation raised discussions about surrealism, tension violence and race, and the existence “in a vacuum” that was set in one location only.[19] The film’s female star, Shirley Knight, won the Best Actress award at the 28th Venice International Film Festival in 1967.[20]

In September 2023, it was announced that Andre Gaines is set to direct, co-write, and produce the film play adaption. The film stars André Holland, Zazie Beetz, Kate Mara, and Stephen McKinley Henderson. Filming begins the same month while the film was secured by SAG-AFTRA interim agreement during the ongoing 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[21] Aldis Hodge and Lauren E. Banks were both cast a month later.[22]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Baraka, Imamu Amiri (1964). Dutchman and The Slave, Two Plays (Morrow Paperback Editions ed.). New York: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 688-21084-8. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
  2. ^ Liukkonen, Petri. "Amiri Baraka (b. 1934) - also called Imamu Amiri Baraka". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on May 4, 2009.
  3. ^ Butcher, Philip; Jones, LeRoi; Baraka, Amiri (1984). "The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka". World Literature Today. 58 (3): 420. doi:10.2307/40139469. ISSN 0196-3570.
  4. ^ "Amiri Baraka | Biography, Poems, Books, Plays, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  5. ^ Davidson, Jiton Sharmayne, "Sometimes funny, but most times deadly serious: Amiri Baraka as political satirist", African American Review, 37.2-3, Summer-Fall 2003, JSTOR, accessed October 31, 2022.
  6. ^ "Amiri Baraka". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  7. ^ Randy Kennedy, "A Play That's Sure to Make You Sweat - Baraka's 'Dutchman' to Be Staged in a Bathhouse", The New York Times, October 31, 2013, accessed October 31,2013.
  8. ^ Rebhorn, Matthew. "Flaying Dutchman: Masochism, Minstrelsy, and the Gender Politics of Amiri Baraka's Dutchman", Callaloo, vol. 26, no. 3, Summer 2003, Project Muse, accessed October 31, 2022.
  9. ^ Baker, Christopher (2013). "A Trip with the Strange Woman: Amiri Baraka's "Dutchman" and the Book of Proverbs". South Atlantic Review. 78 (3/4): 110–128. JSTOR 43739218.
  10. ^ Achilles, Jochen (2000). "Allegory and Iconography in African American Drama of the Sixties: Imamu Amiri Baraka's "Dutchman" and Alice Childress's "Wine in the Wilderness""". Amerikastudien [American Studies]. 45 (2): 219–238. JSTOR 41157564.
  11. ^ Solomon, Rivers, et al. The deep. Simon and Schuster, 2019.
  12. ^ Nelson, Hugh. “LeRoi Jones’ Dutchman: A Brief Ride on a Doomed Ship.” Educational Theatre Journal 20.1 (1968): 53-59.JSTOR. Accessed December 1, 2024. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3204875.
  13. ^ Atallah K.A. Diyaiy, Sabah. “The Dilemma of the Black Man in LeRoi Jones’ Play Dutchman.” Al-Fatih Journal 40 (2009): 13-22.
  14. ^ Gilroy, Paul. "The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness." Harvard UP (1993).
  15. ^ Taubman, Howard. “The Theater: “Dutchman”; Drama Opens on Triple Bill at Cherry Lane; the Casts.” The New York Times, 25 Mar. 1964, www.nytimes.com/1964/03/25/archives/the-theater-dutchman-drama-opens-on-triple-bill-at-cherry-lane-the.html.
  16. ^ McGee, Celia. “A Return to Rage, Played out in Black and White.” The New York Times, 14 Jan. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/theater/14mcge.html.
  17. ^ “Dutchman.” Abouttheartists.com, 2022, www.abouttheartists.com/plays/1806-dutchman-by-leroi-jones. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.
  18. ^ Lelyveld, Joseph. “LeRoi Jones’s ‘Dutchman’ in Exile; Jones’s ‘Dutchman’ in Exile.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Sept. 1966, www.nytimes.com/1966/09/18/archives/leroi-joness-dutchman-in-exile-joness-dutchman-in-exile.html.
  19. ^ Crowther, Bosley. “Screen: ‘Dutchman’ Padded for Film; Little Carnegie Shows Jones’s Protest Play British Director Gets Message Confused.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 28 Feb. 1967, timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/02/28/83581585.html?pageNumber=32.
  20. ^ “Dutchman (1967).” MUBI, mubi.com/en/us/films/dutchman. Accessed 17 Dec. 2024.
  21. ^ Grobar, Matt (2023-09-18). "André Holland, Kate Mara, Zazie Beetz & Stephen McKinley Henderson Set For 'The Dutchman' As Andre Gaines' Adaptation Of Amiri Baraka Play Lands IA". Deadline. Retrieved 2023-10-15.
  22. ^ Grobar, Matt (2023-10-17). "'The Dutchman': Aldis Hodge, Lauren E. Banks Board Andre Gaines Thriller". Deadline. Retrieved 2023-10-21.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Atallah K.A. Diyaiy, Sabah. “The Dilemma of the Black Man in LeRoi Jones’ Play Dutchman.” Al-Fatih Journal 40 (2009): 13-22.
  • Baraka, Imamu Amiri. Dutchman and The Slave, Two Plays. Morrow, 1964.
  • Baraka, Amiri. The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka Freundlich Books : Distributed to the trade by Scribner, 1984.
  • Gilroy, Paul. "The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness." Harvard UP (1993).Lelyveld, Joseph. “LeRoi Jones’s ‘Dutchman’ in Exile; Jones’s ‘Dutchman’ in Exile.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Sept. 1966, www.nytimes.com/1966/09/18/archives/leroi-joness-dutchman-in-exile-joness-dutchman-in-exile.html.
  • Solomon, Rivers, et al. The deep. Simon and Schuster, 2019.
  • Taubman, Howard. “The Theater: “Dutchman”; Drama Opens on Triple Bill at Cherry Lane; the Casts.” The New York Times, 25 Mar. 1964, www.nytimes.com/1964/03/25/archives/the-theater-dutchman-drama-opens-on-triple-bill-at-cherry-lane-the.html.
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