The Watsons Go to Birmingham

I watched ‘The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963.’ I enjoyed the play. It was pretty funny and provided some life lessons for the young audience watching. However, I think it failed to connect with what I thought would be of most importance, the bombing and subsequent death of four little girls. It attempted to evoke feelings of empathy for this African American family, and it did to a large degree. However, the story centered on the relationship between the two brothers, and was a bit confusing as to how it would relate to the actual bombing. (I knew coming in about the bombing). The older boy was always in trouble with his parents and bullied his brother constantly. I think they attempted to portray the family as normal as possible. I believe the playwright’s central message was one of compassion for African Americans who were the victims of intense hatred at the time.

I thought the best performance was delivered by a character with a minor role. Justice Smith played Larry Dunn, a bully, and was really good. He was just very convincing in how he delivered his lines. His voice was loud and commanding, and how he reacted to what the actors said was very, very good. The others were good as well, but I thought he was the most talented. Come to find out, both of his parents were singers and performers and he graduated from the Orange County School of the Arts. Like I mentioned, all of the actors were very good, but I think the weakest performance was that of Kiarah Pollas who played Joetta Watson. Maybe it was because of her young age, but her lines didn’t always come out clean. And a couple of times it seemed as though she was thinking about her lines before she delivered them.

I cannot critique the direction too much because I’ve never read the play. It seems to me as though the director could’ve done a lot more to move the audience after the bombing occurred. This was a heinous act, and I was left with a feeling of wanting to see one of the little girls who died on stage. During the intermission my friend and I were talking about how the terrible part of the little girl dying was coming up. We figured Joetta Watson was going to die in the explosion, but she didn’t. Not that I wanted her to die, but I figured that would evoke feelings of empathy for African Americans, and would make the audience sympathize with the family.