I watched this on Amazon Prime, after the stage production @ Steppenwolf Theatre Chicago was recorded by Spike Lee and released for viewing. This was recorded in 2017.
Spike Lee sets up the recording of this play beautifully, putting it in the framed context of a group of people travelling by bus, from the neighbourhood where the play takes place, to the theatre. Immediately it is a reminder of the proximity and distance between these two worlds. Danya Taymor’s production gives Antoinette Nwandu’s words space to play. The set (by Wilson Chin) is sparse, wide, dim - yet littered with objects. In this space, the empty street corner, we meet two young men, trapped and isolated, yet surrounded by reminders of the outside world, whether through the objects on the stage, the buzzing streetlamp to indicate day or night, or the more confrontational sounds of gunshots. Despite these reminders, the pair dream and plan, aiming to find a way to a new life. They want more but are aware of the challenges of this world — anxious to start and yet wholly unable to do so. Frozen in their moment.
This is interrupted, however, when the white character arrives - first reflective of seemingly well-intentioned white liberals, careful to choose their words, but ultimately, when it comes down to it, seeking to retain his power and therefore the subjugated position of the two black men. The air itself seemed to change when he entered — the reactions of the two more guarded, more careful, and the possibility of danger more imminent than when bullet sounds threw the pair to the ground. When he leaves, nothing is the same again. Later interactions become increasingly violent — the next white character who enters is a police officer, whose racism is overt, but somehow less sinister than that of the well-intentioned liberal. The two white characters keeping the same name, and are played by the same actor. The elbow of oppression present in all white faces we see on the stage, no matter their stated intentions.
Pass Over weaves together a re-think of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot with biblical imagery, and a bold depiction of the true state of power and racism in today’s world. Despite movement forward, ultimately this story ends worse than it began, and with power in the same place. This was written in response to Trayvon Martin’s death, but could easily have been about the events of the past few weeks.
The manner in which Lee films the stage production makes you feel as if you are a fourth, silent character, sitting behind the street lamp. We are there, we are bearing witness, yet we sit there and do nothing. The complicity is a palpable call to action.