Review - Couriers and Contrabands



Last night, I went to see a new play written by a friend of mine, Victor Lesniewski.  I had seen some scenes from the play earlier this year and was quite intrigued, so I was happy to be able to see a full production.  Even though it was done in a very small Off-Off-Broadway space, Couriers and Contrabands was given a quality production with very good design elements.  Of course, my usual caveat applies:  I'm already a huge fan of Victor's, so I'm predisposed to enjoy his work.  Take my comments with a grain of salt, if you must.

I've always been interested in stories about the Civil War, especially stories about people affected by it, but not necessarily directly in the middle of it.  I've read a lot of historical fiction over the years about the time period, so Couriers and Contrabands was right in my wheelhouse.  This play tells a story about a group of people I hadn't read about before, so that made the story even more interesting to me.  Seeing the behind-the-scene machinations of spies and couriers and how some women had more of an effect than men may have originally imagined was intriguing. 

The play opens in a storm, with good lighting and sound effects, and we see a courier delivering a packet of documents to...someone.  We don't know who.  But I was immediately engaged.  The rest of the play takes place in two houses, mainly the one with Confederate spies who are trying to find out what the Union army is up to.  We see the leader, Thomas, and his sister, Lottie, taking on the identity of whoever they must to gather information.  A young Army corporal has joined their group to keep an eye on things through the military perspective, which adds some tension and friction inside the house while the war is happening outside.  There are other characters, such as Thomas' long-time friend James, Lottie's best friend, Mary, and two house servants/slaves, who are as important to the action as everyone else.  Let's just say that no one is really who they appear to be.

I got so caught up in the machinations and twists and turns in the story, the two hours really zoomed by.  I knew about one plot twist already from seeing the scenes earlier this year, but another twist was completely new to me and I was very surprised and intrigued by it.  I found all of the conversation and dialogue to be very realistic and detailed, and the characters were well-drawn.  Everyone in the play was playing a part, to some extent, taking on new identities, or hiding their old ones, and the characterizations were crystal-clear.  I found myself really hanging on every word and wondering how this particular story could end, even while knowing how the bigger picture of the story of the war ended.

photo credit: Al Foote III

I will say that the acting was a bit inconsistent - some performers were terrific, others less so.  Sometimes, the dialect got the better of them and the sound of the words became more important than their meaning, but that didn't happen often.  I thought the set and the costumes were very evocative and represented the period well, and the set changes were very well done to make a small set seem larger.  Like The Christians, I think Couriers and Contrabands gave some dignity and intelligence to characters who can often be played as heavy-handedly evil or stupid - even the Confederate slave owners were thoughtful people caught up in a situation that was beyond them and they were just trying to maintain the status quo.  But their blindness to the humanity of the people who worked for them was still very striking.  I think the script is extremely well-crafted and smartly depicts a world I knew little about.

Couriers and Contrabands runs at TBG Theatre until September 26, so I do recommend you go see it, especially if, like me, you're interested in new stories about an era you thought you knew.  And I'm very much looking forward to whatever Victor brings us next...