THE BASICS: AN OCTOROON, a 2014 play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Peter Hinton starring AndrSills, Patrick McManus, Ryan Cunningham, Vanessa Sears, et. al. runs throughOctober 14at the Royal George Theatre, 85 Queen Street, Niagara-on-the-Lake.www.shawfest.comor1-800-511-7429. Theater opens hour before curtain, full service cozy bar in the downstairs lounge, great coffee, snacks. Runtime: a little over 2 hours and 30 minutes including one intermission.

THUMBNAIL SKETCH: In this play within a play, we first meet playwright BJJ (Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, get it?) as played by AndrSills, in his underwear, at a makeup table, explaining that he wanted to revive an 1859 melodrama called The Octoroon which takes place on a slave plantation called Terrebone, but he couldnt get any of his white guy friends to play the overtly racist characters, so hes going to do that himself, as he slathers on white face makeup. Sills then takes on the roles of both the kindly George, who has returned from England to inherit a plantation, and also the role of the evil MClosky who has designs on the place and on the innocent Zoe, who is 1/8 black (an octoroon) and who may be a slave (and therefore MCloskys property along with the plantation) or might be free to marry George depending on a plot device. And, along the way, we have white actors applying blackface and redface to play the various roles required. We go back and forth between pre-American Civil War theatrics and post-Obama racial analysis. This is what theater is supposed to be. Thank you Artistic Director Tim Carroll for including AN OCTOROON in the lineup.

THE PLAYERS, THE PLAY, AND THE PRODUCTION: AN OCTOROON provides the big breakout role for AndrSills, in his third year with The Shaw Festival, having been in last seasons two race oriented plays: Athol Fugards MASTER HAROLDAND THE BOYS as well as Shaws THE ADVENTURES OF THE BLACK GIRL IN SEARCH OF GOD. And Sills is also currently in THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III, also at The Royal George. Hes a busy guy, but never more so than in this production, where, towards the end, he plays George and MClosky simultaneously, wearing a suit that is half one character and half the other.

With his immense talent, and playing the three lead roles of playwright BJJ, George, and MClosky, this could have been all about Sills, but thanks to the Shaws deep pool of talent (including Gillian Gallow, Bonnie Beecher, and Ryan de Souza who provided design, lighting, and music) and a fine ensemble cast, the evening feels balanced but very powerful.

The playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), for whom The Shaw Festival is named, consistently explored themes of imperialism, domination, and economic disadvantage. And we are still dealing with those problems today, if not military imperialism, then cultural imperialism, cultural domination, and systematic economic oppression. So, this play honors the legacy of Shaw, is true to the mission of The Shaw Festival, and is about as current as you can get.

In general, I do not like metatheater where the play is aware of itself as a product of a culture. I think thats our job as audience to see that. But while AN OCTOROON is a play about putting on a play, the writing, the production values, the acting are at such a high level that its not distracting at all.

The Shaw Festival (www.shawfest.com) continues to offer plays into October. While MIDDLETOWN ends onSeptember 10; WILDE TALES and Shaws ANDROCLES AND THE LION run throughOctober 7; and 1837: THE FARMERS REVOLT ends onOctober 8(note that Thanksgiving Day in Canada and Columbus Day in the U.S. are celebrated onMonday, October 9). Looking at the final weekend, DRACULA; 1979 (about Prime Minister Joe Clark); and AN OCTOROON end onOctober 14; while Shaws SAINT JOAN, the musical ME AND MY GIRL; THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III; and DANCING AT LUGHNASA close the Festivals offerings onSunday, October 15, 2017. Also note thatSundayperformances are now an hour early at both1:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Rating: Four and half Buffalos

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AN OCTOROON at Shaw: Race in your face in one of the best shows this summer. - Buffalo Rising