The Blacks (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Jean Genet
- First Published: 1958
- Type of Plot: Existential; allegory
- Time of Work: The 1950’s
- Setting: Europe and Africa
- Principal Characters: Edgar-Hélas Ville de Saint-Nazaire, Dieudonné Village, Archibald Absalon Wellington, Samba Graham Diouf, Mademoiselle Étiennette-Vertu-Rose-Secrète Diop, The Queen, The Judge, The Valet, The Missionary, The Governor
- Genres: Existential literature, Drama, Allegory
- Subjects: 1950’s, African Americans, Discrimination, Africa or Africans, Racism, Blacks, Europe or Europeans, Revolutions, Trials, Oppression
- Locales: Africa, Europe
The Play
At the beginning of The Blacks, the proscenium curtain is drawn to reveal a backdrop of black velvet curtains and various tiers, the highest of which, in the far rear, comes to be occupied by “the court.” Four black men and four black women dance around a catafalque (an ornamental structure containing a coffin) to a minuet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The members of the court are black but wear white masks so as to represent onstage an extension of the white audience in the theater. To both the court and the audience, Archibald introduces himself, then...
[The entire page is 2381 words long]
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