Five Plays

by Webster Smalley (Editor)

"His pictures of Harlem life are as fresh today as they were when they were first set down . . . " ―Long Beach Press-Telegraph

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, Theatre, Social Justice

280 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1963

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

After enjoying his memoirs a few years ago, I wanted more Langston Hughes. I ordered a novel, a short story collection, a volume of poetry, and this book of plays. I've read all of them now except for the poetry.

It is rare to find an author who has such talent in so many different genres. Everything I have read by Hughes has been unforgettable and powerful. I am in absolute awe of him and his work.

These five plays are mainly set in Harlem, but the first offering, Mulatto, takes place on a Georgia plantation and tells a tragic story of eighteen year old Robert Lewis, son of the white plantation owner and the black woman he has lived with for thirty years. This was almost too painful to read; it left me completely drained and weeping at the final curtain.

A version of this play was on Broadway in 1935. It was the author's first professionally produced play, but according to the introduction, it had been changed without the author's knowledge or consent and he could not stop the production. So the play as published in this 1963 volume is the first time the true script had been printed.

A word about that introduction, by the way. If anyone reads this edition, save the intro for after you finish the plays, or at the least after you finish Mulatto. As so often happens, the person who wrote the introduction gave away a major plot spoiler while trying to educate the reader about Hughes and the story behind these pieces. It is not something you should know going into the play. It won't necessarily lessen the impact, you will still feel as though the ground has fallen from under your feet, but I would have preferred not knowing Robert's fate beforehand.

The other plays are all set in Harlem. Still awesome, still intense, but Mulatto was definitely the stand out for me in this book, with Little Ham a close second.

(Oh, there are some violent scenes in some of the plays, and anyone who reads this book must be ready for such things, as well as frequent use of the 'n' word.)

I will start on the poetry Someday, and in the meantime I may visit my favorite online used bookseller to see if they have any other titles that appeal to me!

[Roxanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was my first introduction to Langston Hughes.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soul Gone Home *** – In this short play a dead son confronts his negligent mother. It is a searing indictment of parents and a society who do not support children.

Little Ham *** – This is a classical farce, with the womanizing Ham getting himself a series in liaisons with different women, but avoiding disaster at the end. The plot circles around the Harlem numbers game and a Charleston dancing contest with all the characters seemingly coming out ahead. While not the most meaningful play, it presents a sympathetic, lively and realistic portrait of 1920s Harlem life.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Langston Hughes's Five Plays provides an interesting experience for readers only familiar with Hughes's poetry, short stories, and essays. The two that resonate with me most are "Mulatto," due to its historical significance and the radical nature of the narrative, and "Soul Gone Home," which uses supernatural elements to process the trauma of losing a child to hunger. The tone of the other three plays is far lighter, filled with Signifyin', and demonstrate Hughes's larger range as as a playwright.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

African American literature that paints a fully formed and 3 dimensional story of life as it was is sometimes difficult to find during the 1930's and 40's when plays like Mulatto were written. For obvious reasons most publishing houses and booksellers weren't particularly fond of books that spoke about life from people that were mainly despised by the general population and thought of as second class citizenry. However, in Harlem as Hughes is writing we see a vibrant and diverse cast of African American characters with varied wants, needs, and desires. In the opening play of this series, Mulatto, Hughes is meditating on how we arrived as a society at the point that later books will take place in and why there is such a divide in the lives of his black Harlem society and the rest of the world. In others, like Little Ham we see a thriving, if not chaotic African American love story between a beauty shop owner and her on again and off again lover. In particular, I think Hughes plays are a reflection on what he saw African American life was actually like, from a lens that was derided and non existent at the time period. It was a chance to illustrate for readers the basic similarities of all human's basic desires for fairness, love, equality, and achievement while also showing a vibrant African influenced history. Hughes approach to dialect as it was is amazing to read, full of black southern inflection and speckled with rich slang. In all the plays are short and sweet, but offering a rich look at a history of African American life from the keen eyes of great black poet.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

the first two plays were especially powerful. All of these plays are so different from each other. I was also very interested in all the musical numbers included in the scripts - I am so curious about the music. All of these plays are products of their time although there are many timeless themes in them.

[DJ Linick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, the only good play in this collection was Mulatto. The rest I could've done without. In Hughes's defense, reading music-dependent comedies probably doesn't help them much.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of plays, which are short, and powerful. I expected nothing less.