Underground Railroad Game

Underground Railroad Game is full of twists and turns and shocking surprises.  And - warning adult’s only – full frontal nudity!

Set behind an ironically conventional proscenium arch.  The opening scene is of a desperate African American female slave escaping pursuit and being assisted by a mild mannered Quaker.  We are in the era of the American Civil War and she is apparently travelling along the Underground Railroad Route of safe houses set up by abolitionists to assist slaves in escaping persecution. The story really gets our attention. 

Then the two intrepid and completely fearless co-creators and exceptional performers, Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R Sheppard, position the audience as grade 5 school students.  This duo - Afro-American woman and white male - take on the role of contemporary teachers to engage us in an educational game directed at assisting the emancipation of slaves.  The slaves take the form of small brown rag dolls.

Here’s the rub – those of us who are chosen to be Union soldiers and ‘saviors’ of the slaves are role-playing white ‘imperialists’, as are the Confederate soldiers who are bent on retaining the slaves.  So just like the school kids playing the game, we are all positioned as imperialists. Therefore there is no significant questioning of the overall race relations or power inequities inherent in the game.  The game is just two bunches of ‘whities’ gaining or losing points by how clever they are maneuvering little black dolls.

But - what can jump out at one from behind a proscenium arch! 

Unsettlingly the bottom falls out - as the two teachers engage in some very explicit sexual activities of a particularly libidinous kind.  In these sequences the show becomes a smooth sensational and in-your-face adults only romp that plays with gender relations - in a way that could be seen, to subverting race relations.  The personal is political.

Proceedings end with a delightful interaction between two charming, beautifully lit puppets that are indicative of the opening characters.

No easy answers in this show.  It draws our attention to the gross inequities of the past with regard to the slave trade.  Something, that I believe, is covered in only a few of our schools in Australia, though doubtless parallels can be drawn with Australian race relations.

Underground Railroad Game is reminiscent of the bold approach of Blackie Blackie Brown and the visually explicit Wild Bore.

There is a kind of muted interaction between the pretend teachers and the audience as students.  My guess is, as the run progresses and the performers become more confident of their Australian audiences, they will loosen up and interact more fully and freely.

What I experienced was two-dimensional and I was expecting another more didactic thread to pull the two apparently disparate realities together. By this I mean - perhaps a greater understanding of the historical context of the Civil War or some signpost, sense of resolve or suggestion of how to proceed.  But hey – any presumed lack of in-depth political exposition does not diminish the entertainment value.  This is provocative, beautifully produced theatre that is well worth catching.

Suzanne Sandow

Images: Ben Arons Photography

Credits

Direction – Taibi Magar

Production Design – Tilly Grimes

Scenic Design – Steven Dufala

Lighting Design – Oona Curley

Sound Design Mikaal Sulaiman

Fight Choreographer – Ryan Bourgue

Movement Consultant – David Neumann

Cast – Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard