Big White Fog

by Theodore Ward

Never seen outside America until 2007, Theodore Ward’s landmark family drama, Big White Fog , remains as poignant today as it was when it burst upon the Chicago stage in 1937. It later went on to New York, where it was produced by the Negro Playwrights’ Company, of which Ward was a co-founder with, among others, Paul Robeson and Langston Hughes.

Genres: Plays, Read For School, Historical Fiction, African American Literature, Drama

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2008

Reviews

[Aaron Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've often objected to problem plays like this one (especially in my GoodReads reviews), but Big White Fog works - emotionally and intellectually. It gets me every time. I am deeply fond of this play, and it is an excellent play to teach with/before A Raisin in the Sun.

My main objection to this text is its treatment of Wanda – and of sex work more generally – but I understand the critique, and this was, after all, the 1930s.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

FEBRUARY

23. by Theodore Ward (no photo)

Finish date: 11 February 2022
Genre: Play
Rating: D
Review:


Bad news: This play was described as one of the most
powerful African American plays on the 1930s. So why didn’t I like it?
Act 1 – too slow, no real set up for emerging conflict…just introduction to characters.
Act 2 – scene 2,3 finally explode in race/family conflict, inter-black prejudice…but it is too little too late for this reader. Yes I noticed themes in 1938…are still relevant today….blacks cut off from opportunity: Vic’s son Les: his scholarship cancelled b/c of skin color but that was not enough to create an emotional connection to the play as…I had with Raisin in the Sun (Lorraine Hanesberry)
Act 3 -…fizzles out.


Good news: Interested in African American drama? There are better plays to read.
Raisin in the Sun (Lorraine Hansberry)
Fences (August Wilson)
#WorthYourReadingTime

Personal: The play was relevant in its time (depression era)..offering an exact record of its times. But it was a somber, depressing play. Weak point: There was a constant heavy-handed leftist rhetoric, tone. Vic is Marcus Garvey follower, Pizer (Jewish student, friend of his son Les) promotes socialism. Weak point: The play occasionally shows its age: the family’s horror at the elder daughter’s prostituting herself to a white man seems overdone…and the climax is melodramatic. (Act 2:2,3) Strong emotional appeal with characters shouting and and threatening each other (Vic vs mother-in-law and wife) Weak point: covering a 10-year span from 1922 to 1932 In Act 3 there is a 8,5 year jump, too far to feel like a compact “problem play”. Probably the play needs to be seen on stage…and not read in bed at 10 pm. The sparks that must fly between Vic, Ella, Martha, Dan….that would salvage this story.

[Perryn McBride · Rating 3 out of 5]

this play was good in many aspects however I couldn't really understand how much time was passing and got confused when ages were said. I had to read this for class and would not have read it otherwise. the main character is stuck on what he wants to do and believes til the end.

[TK Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be curated;

It was an honour to read such a well thought out text. This play was read as a publication of “Playwrights Canada Press”. The introduction consisted of a collection of publication excerpts from various people who were either highly educated on the subject matter or first hand accounts of their experiences.

Theodore Ward is a master in this telling of a family experiencing the effects of systemic oppression. Intersectionality shines through in a poignant display of intimate understanding. Important topics such as economic inequality, sexism, colourism, racism, mental illness, and classism are all wrapped up in a tidy and gripping expose.

There’s a feeling you get when you listen to a moving sound bite of a radio special, fuzzy with time, that tinny sound most associated with 1950’s broadcast technology. It’s a warm feeling tinged with sadness, a notion that something important is happening, all the while a transatlantic accent is coming through those airwaves filling the room with trepidation and awe… that’s the feeling Theodore Ward evokes from cover to cover.

10/10 I recommend

[andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chicago being the most segregated city in the U.S, this play accurately demonstrates racism in Chicago and how although as a society , we’ve moved forward, racism continues to be represented geographically in our communities.

[Not Mike]

Play.

[Lonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

i enjoyed this play, somewhat. honestly, can't remember most of it, but i know that i liked it. read it for a class.

[Octavia]

This play is what I imagine being married to dr umar is like

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful, Chicago-set play that tells us something about White racism, the Marcus Garvey movement, and depression era communism. The conclusion is a bit didactic but overall this is a strong play with well-developed characters and a sound structure.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better pieces of politically activist plays I have read. It avoids the trap of one-dimensional characters and long winded preaching inadequately disguised as dialogue. It promotes its agenda of interracial unity under communism in both an emotionally moving but also intellectually stimulating with only a minor degree of manipulation, rare for this genre. It shows the frustrations of the time and the way in which neither the Du Bois, Booker T. Washington nor Garvey separatist approach was the perfect solution. Perhaps inadvertently Theodore Ward's play gains more emotional significance in a modern context where communism has show to have massively failed. The communist agenda of "Fog" continues the theme of desperate people running from one movement to the next in search of simple answers that aren't there. Ward may have been advocating for a communist solution when he wrote this, and what he crafted makes a powerful argument even now, solely based on his own writing ability. This play provokes serious political discussion.

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent play that came out of the Negro Unit of Chicago's Federal Theatre Project (WPA). Theodore Ward went on to found the Negro Playwrights Company with Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, et al.

Most interesting here is the juxtaposition of two streams of political thought on black liberation in depression-era America: Marcus Garvey's "back to Africa" movement and the prospect of socialist insurgency. Truly a slice o' the times - But with insights on black subjectivity that feel quite contemporary.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a tendency to sometimes dismiss older works, but this was beautifully written and, when I saw it several years ago, brilliantly performed.