Review: Daring ‘Bust’ a prescient look at Black life in contemporary culture

The opening scene, though, is a blast.

The curtain opens upon an apartment balcony up several floors from a parking lot. From her perch, Retta (Caroline Stefanie Clay) gossips on her phone, narrating everything she sees her neighbors up to in a delicious, lengthy monologue that goes mostly uninterrupted ― even when she’s joined by her pot-smoking husband Reggie (Raymond Anthony Thomas) and teen grandson Trent (Cecil Blutcher).

Credit: Photo by Greg Mooney

Credit: Photo by Greg Mooney

Soon, an altercation in the parking lot escalates to violence between a neighbor, Mr. Woods (Keith Randolph Smith) and two police officers, Tomlin (Mark Bedard) and Ramirez (Jorge Luna), which ends in a thoroughly unexpected way that baffles all the characters. Even Trent, who captures the moment on video, cannot believe what he saw.

Later, in class with his STEM-studying crush Krystal (Renika Williams-Blutcher) and hilarious friend Boobie (Ivan Cecil Walks), Trent himself faces escalating tensions as his video goes viral.

And he and Mr. Woods discuss whether life might be transcendent somewhere else, free from the contexts and confinements imposed upon Black people by the current culture — free from where they often have to twist themselves into pretzels to make oppressors feel comfortable.

The message of “Bust” could not be more prescient at this moment. It attempts to address the topic of trauma without depicting trauma, sparing the audience from triggering moments. Yet, to its detriment, the script often paints its characters in very, very broad strokes.

Trent, played well by Blutcher, is a passive sort of young everyman protagonist. He doesn’t get much specificity or personality in the script throughout much of the play’s first act — to the point that it’s not clear he’s the main character. Until he finds himself set apart from others, he isn’t given much drive or desire.

Instead, he’s reacting to stronger characters. The script more clearly draws Retta, Boobie and Krystal, giving them edges and definition.

And the character Tomlin — the primary antagonist of “Bust” — is so brazenly detestable in such cringeworthy, predictable ways that he borders on farce. Bedard is a strong performer who does what he can to elevate what he’s given, but, wow, Tomlin is gross.

Credit: Photo by Greg Mooney

Credit: Photo by Greg Mooney

In the second act, Smith gives several glorious monologues, reflecting upon his past and his family with poetic, finely detailed storytelling at moments when the staging is at a surreal peak.

Still, some of the story’s thematic conclusions are puzzling, such as the notion that trauma and anger are the primary ways these characters might achieve liberation.

The direction from Lileana Blain-Cruz is tight, and the scenic and lighting design from Matt Saunders and Yi Zhao are stunning. The scene transitions play like shifting dioramas. And the music chosen by sonic dramaturge DJ Reborn deserves specific praise; audience members were thrilled from the moment they entered the auditorium.

Black audiences deserve theater that centers them and does not dwell in trauma or frame their experiences only in reaction to oppressors. “Bust” is daring and experimental, and it quite often reaches great heights.

THEATER REVIEW

“Bust”

Through March 16 at Alliance Theatre. $25-$125. 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 404-733-4600, alliancetheatre.org

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Benjamin Carr is an ArtsATL editor-at-large who has contributed to the publication since 2019 and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the Dramatists Guild, the Atlanta Press Club and the Horror Writers Association. His writing has been featured in podcasts for iHeartMedia, onstage as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and online in The Guardian. His debut novel, “Impacted,” was published by the Story Plant.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

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