An Extraordinarily Composed Score
Posted by Phillip James Brannon on 1/27/2010
(Phillip plays Oshoosi Size, Egungun and Terrell in The Brother/Sister Plays)
Working on these plays is one of the most artistically fulfilling projects I have been fortunate enough to be a part of. My imagination gets to play on an exquisitely equipped playground. These plays require such immense creativity, and equally important, extraordinary precision, specificity, and pace. So yeah, they are very, very hard. But when a moment clicks into gear, when it pops, and you can taste the potential of all the other moments, it is thrilling. There is magic in these plays, and of course it may not always be clear at first, but the answers really do dwell in the words, in the Awe Full score that is The Brother/Sister Plays.
Maybe halfway through rehearsal or so, one of my personal speed bumps was in trying to find Oshoosi’s “light.” I was searching for his light and laughter, his openness and the truth of his smile in spite of the cards that he’d been dealt. Oshoosi is a wanderer, a lover of Life, but is a bit lost in trying to find a meaning and purpose of his own. And what is especially important, as our director (Tina Landau) and playwright (Tarell McCraney) told me from day one, is that we must see that “light” of his at the beginning of The Brothers Size… and there was my first speed bump. I understood the note. Now executing it, that’s another thing. Tarell told me Oshoosi and I had similar inherent qualities (which should be helpful), but now it was a matter of realizing them for myself. He told me we would find the answers to our questions in the plays… and of course he was right. They are there, sometimes right in your face, and ironically those are the ones hardest to distinguish at times. Ogun (K. Todd Freeman, one of the greatest scene partners EVER) and Elegba (Glenn Davis) both talk about Oshoosi’s singing; his voice. Ogun talks about how Oshoosi was the singer in the family and asks him to sing for him in one of the most priceless moments of the play. Elegba calls Oshoosi a “siren.” He recalls hearing Oshoosi wail through song while in prison:
“And you just hear the clanging of that voice, like a trumpet shot
Out o Gods heaven
Bouncing on the cement and steel… chiming like a bell.”
So, hmmm, Ogun and Elegba seem to see a light in Oshoosi’s song… THE MUSIC! There’s my light! I, Phillip, LOVE music. I have concerts and dance parties in my apartment all by myself ALL the time. Music in spite of. Music because of. That, I get. That was immediately a way in for me, and illuminated problem spots for me. Oshoosi sings by himself on a lunch break in the second scene of The Brothers Size. During an early work session of that scene, Tina told me to think about what you’re like and how you play when you are singing by yourself, for yourself, and for the gods. For whatever reason, that is when the light went on for me about Oshoosi’s light. So with that, I went home and Oshoosi had his own concert and dance party all over the hardwood floors of my humble apartment. Then I sat down and read The Brothers Size again (I read this play compulsively). I began to hear the sung and unsung arias these brothers deliver in a new way. I could more genuinely feel the light and play of Oshoosi’s spirit. And thank goodness for the inspiration. You get tired of feeling like a phony in the moments you don’t have yet. I suppose it was right in my face, but hey, I’m thankful to get when it I get. Or as K. Todd Freeman (Ogun) says, “When Thespis comes down, I don’t wanna miss that ride.”
The Brother/Sister Plays are an extraordinarily composed score, with every note where it should be. The feat is learning it, and the joy is playing in it, letting it play on you and the audience.