Review: Ensemble Theatre's timely 'Brother Toad' takes a shot at gun violence
It's almost as if Rachel Hemphill Dickson and Eileen J. Morris, directors of the Ensemble Theatre's current production of Nathan Louis Jackson's"Brother Toad," could peer into the future. That could be one explanation for why"Brother Toad," a look at the ripples that shake a community in the wake of an incident of gun violence, is opening just as America has been convulsed by three mass shooting events in recent weeks.
And that's the picture Jackson paints in this production which, wisely, is less heavy handed and more nuanced than might be expected. Instead of lecturing and hectoring, Jackson puts his characters in positions that go beyond delivering simple, anti-gun rants as they stand on the fulcrum of fear versus security.
Meanwhile, his uncle Randall is a sports-radio talk show host who sometimes delves into thorny social issues -- much to the dismay of some of his white listeners, one of whom physically threatens him -- while Randall's wife, Shayna , is organizing an anti-gun violence protest on the upcoming weekend.
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