Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

REVIEW: Poor production qualities mar 'Emperor Jones'

Free theater, accessible to the public, is a good thing. Lousy theater at any cost is a waste of time.

As part of the celebration of cultural diversity and Black History Month, the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District presented Eugene O'Neill's play, "The Emperor Jones."

The story is about a Pullman porter who escapes from a chain gang and later becomes emperor of a Caribbean island.

The play begins with Emperor Jones discovering that his people are preparing to overthrow him.

Emperor Jones tries to escape through a forest and in the process, encounters "haints" or ghosts of his past murder victims. He also becomes part of ghostly re-enactments of slaves being transported on ships and later being auctioned off.

Ron Williams as Emperor Jones had a presence, but he was not enough to save this production.

Director Walter Mason and sound consultant Ellis Rice either need to mike the performers or turn down the music.

The sound of a tom-tom drum accompanies most of the production and ends up overpowering the dialogue.

Lyle E. Fisher, playing Henry Smithers, a seedy, Cockney trader, bumbled through his lines. His accent faded in and out, at times sounding more Irish than Cockney. His acting was unfocused and weak.

The scenes were redundant.

Instead of using lighting changes to signify the passage of time, lighting designer Vaughn Lowthar simply faded several scenes to black. This interrupted the continuity of the show, as the pauses lasted far too long.

Even for free it was overpriced.