Well the Missus and I trundled down to the South End last night to catch SpeakEasy Stage Company’s production of Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate and say, it was . . . disturbing.
After the death of their patriarch, the estranged members of the Lafayette clan gather at their crumbling Arkansas plantation home to mourn his loss and settle his estate. While sifting through a lifetime of memories and junk, they make a gruesome discovery that forces them to confront their family’s dark past. Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (Neighbors, An Octoroon) offers his own subversive take on a classic American genre for a bold new look at race and identity.
The cast is terrific, the set is hoarderific, and the ending is, well, horrific.
Go see the production if you want more . . . specifics.