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Fairview
Grandma's birthday approaches. Beverly is organizing the perfect dinner, but everything seems doomed to go awry--the silverware is all wrong, the radio is on the fritz, and the rest of the family can't be bothered to lift a hand to help. And yet, what appears at first to be a standard family dramedy takes a sharp, sly turn into a startling examination of deep-seated paradigms about race in America.
120 pages, Paperback
First published July 23, 2019
63 people are currently reading
1469 people want to read
About the author
Jackie Sibblies Drury
7 books25 followersJackie Sibblies Drury is an American playwright. A native of Plainfield, New Jersey, she is a graduate of Yale and Brown University MFA playwriting program, receiving the David Wickham Prize in Playwriting.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 244 reviews
March 5, 2023
March 5, 2023 Update Review rating bumped to 4 stars based on seeing a Preview performance today by Obsidian Theatre Company in Toronto. The cast gave outstanding performances of this play which may have felt a bit flat on the page alone. The surreal 3rd act was a delight and the thought provoking finale was well led by the young actor (Chelsea Russell) who played the Keisha role, who entered the auditorium to encourage white audience members to go on stage and to 'switch' roles with the entertainers. The energy felt a bit dissipated though when the cast left without a bow or an ovation which they had surely earned. It was a preview, so they may be experimenting with different versions of the ending.
Audience left standing onstage at the finale of "Fairview" in Toronto on March 5, 2023, the cast having departed without a bow. Image sourced from my own photograph.
Gazing at the White Gaze
Review of the Theater Communications Group paperback edition (August 27, 2019) of the original play first premiered Off-Broadway (June-August 2018)
[bumped to 4 after an early 3 rating based on print only, will revisit after seeing live]
I have a ticket to see Fairview in March 2023 at its Canadian Premiere, as performed by Obsidian Theatre Company at the Canadian Stage Berkeley Theatre in Toronto. I was curious to read the play in advance as it was already in print and as it had won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
An early publicity photo for the 2023 Canadian Premiere of 'Fairview'. Image sourced from Obsidian Theatre Company in Toronto, Canada.
Fairview has a 3 act structure which starts off in Act 1 as a very conventional sit-com with a Black American family preparing for a birthday meal and celebration. In Act 2, the events of Act 1 are reperformed/mimicked by the same actors, but 4 White Americans (a fictional audience) comment on the action in a way that becomes increasingly racist. In Act 3 the White Actors 'enter' the play of Act 1 in what becomes a surreal and absurdist exaggeration of 'Whites' being 'Black'.
A lot of this reads as very offensive on the page but the comic possibilities can also definitely be anticipated. This is especially so in Act 2 where the two sets of actors are performing independently but there are likely points where their actions will crossover and seemingly comment on each other (you can't really 'see' this when you read it). Act 3 may seem somewhat ridiculous and over the top on the page, but with excellent actors there is sure to be a cathartic experience. The play also breaks the so-called '4th wall' at times and addresses the audience directly.
I'm looking forward to seeing it live on stage.
Other Reviews (of the stage version)
A review of another current 2023 production can be read at At Speakeasy, 'Fairview' Stares Down the White Gaze by Don Aucoin in the Boston Globe, February 20, 2023.
Trivia and Links
You can see a trailer for the Berkeley Rep production (the 2nd production after the Soho Rep premiere) from October-November 2018 on YouTube here.
Audience left standing onstage at the finale of "Fairview" in Toronto on March 5, 2023, the cast having departed without a bow. Image sourced from my own photograph.
Gazing at the White Gaze
Review of the Theater Communications Group paperback edition (August 27, 2019) of the original play first premiered Off-Broadway (June-August 2018)
[bumped to 4 after an early 3 rating based on print only, will revisit after seeing live]
I have a ticket to see Fairview in March 2023 at its Canadian Premiere, as performed by Obsidian Theatre Company at the Canadian Stage Berkeley Theatre in Toronto. I was curious to read the play in advance as it was already in print and as it had won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
An early publicity photo for the 2023 Canadian Premiere of 'Fairview'. Image sourced from Obsidian Theatre Company in Toronto, Canada.
Fairview has a 3 act structure which starts off in Act 1 as a very conventional sit-com with a Black American family preparing for a birthday meal and celebration. In Act 2, the events of Act 1 are reperformed/mimicked by the same actors, but 4 White Americans (a fictional audience) comment on the action in a way that becomes increasingly racist. In Act 3 the White Actors 'enter' the play of Act 1 in what becomes a surreal and absurdist exaggeration of 'Whites' being 'Black'.
A lot of this reads as very offensive on the page but the comic possibilities can also definitely be anticipated. This is especially so in Act 2 where the two sets of actors are performing independently but there are likely points where their actions will crossover and seemingly comment on each other (you can't really 'see' this when you read it). Act 3 may seem somewhat ridiculous and over the top on the page, but with excellent actors there is sure to be a cathartic experience. The play also breaks the so-called '4th wall' at times and addresses the audience directly.
I'm looking forward to seeing it live on stage.
Other Reviews (of the stage version)
A review of another current 2023 production can be read at At Speakeasy, 'Fairview' Stares Down the White Gaze by Don Aucoin in the Boston Globe, February 20, 2023.
Trivia and Links
You can see a trailer for the Berkeley Rep production (the 2nd production after the Soho Rep premiere) from October-November 2018 on YouTube here.
November 10, 2019
I abandoned Drury's previous play We Are Proud To Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884 - 1915 after about 20 pages as it was so dull, repetitious and juvenile that I had no reason to continue... so was wary of this effort going in... and I was not disappointed in my disappointment.
There are two things I can say for sure about this recent winner of the Pulitzer for Best Play:
1. It undoubtedly PLAYS better than it reads. I say that because the script is both terribly confusing (at one point you have to simultaneously read dialogue on pages 62-73, with stage directions on p. 75-78), and the dialogue veers between being (intentionally) flat and (intentionally) over the top. The stage directions are so vague/incomplete that I had to read several reviews to figure out what actually happens. Apparently, with excellent actors and some deft split-second timing, this all comes together magically - but reading it is terribly flat and didactic.
2. Bruce Norris was robbed, and should have won a second Pulitzer for his devastating Downstate. His FIRST Pulitzer, for Clybourne Park, also said much more about race than this mess.
There are two things I can say for sure about this recent winner of the Pulitzer for Best Play:
1. It undoubtedly PLAYS better than it reads. I say that because the script is both terribly confusing (at one point you have to simultaneously read dialogue on pages 62-73, with stage directions on p. 75-78), and the dialogue veers between being (intentionally) flat and (intentionally) over the top. The stage directions are so vague/incomplete that I had to read several reviews to figure out what actually happens. Apparently, with excellent actors and some deft split-second timing, this all comes together magically - but reading it is terribly flat and didactic.
2. Bruce Norris was robbed, and should have won a second Pulitzer for his devastating Downstate. His FIRST Pulitzer, for Clybourne Park, also said much more about race than this mess.
May 11, 2025
We should embody who we are.
And accept it.
And not continuously remand our individualities to the confined niches of gender, color, religion, sexuality, politics, age, geography, etc.
They are societal constructs of our past and present (to control/manipulate?)
Allow disinterested others to put us in the box they perceive we inhabit.
Our choice is what to do with it.
This play is anathema to that.
It is a simplistic, priggish, condescending drama for a vacuous audience.
I did not enjoy it.
And accept it.
And not continuously remand our individualities to the confined niches of gender, color, religion, sexuality, politics, age, geography, etc.
They are societal constructs of our past and present (to control/manipulate?)
Allow disinterested others to put us in the box they perceive we inhabit.
Our choice is what to do with it.
This play is anathema to that.
It is a simplistic, priggish, condescending drama for a vacuous audience.
I did not enjoy it.
September 24, 2019
That ending monologue, tho.... Wow!!
January 8, 2025
Probably one of the most innovative and original works of art to come out of the last decade. Shocking and extremely entertaining until it completely subverts any parameters a piece of drama normally follows. No wonder it won the Pulitzer Prize!!
Thanks Sally for letting me read your copy I can’t wait to see what you do with your thesis 🛐
Thanks Sally for letting me read your copy I can’t wait to see what you do with your thesis 🛐
January 13, 2025
Third time reading this and it hits harder every time. Not sure if I’ll ever get to the point of fully comprehending the sheer genius of this play, but I can’t wait to spend the next four months staying with it! (PS everyone cross your fingers I can find a way to see it staged before my thesis is done)
October 20, 2019
Challenging and disturbing. The second section with the commentary by white audience members is just plain offensive. I'm sure it's intended to be so. The third section is clearly addressed to white theatregoers, playwrights, and producers: give people of color the space to tell their own stories; stop putting words in their mouths.
March 15, 2024
The unconventional structure of this was amazing. The stage directions alone were eerie and weird. I'm so excited to see this on stage.
February 4, 2022
I wish I had seen this staged before reading it in order to experience my/the crowd’s reaction at the top of Act III. I love high-quality surreal works (Too Many Cooks, Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine, Adaptation, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead…) that successfully experiment with their medium and structure in service of theme, and so I’m impressed by this play (including the kind and generous stage directions). Congratulations to the playwright: the Pulitzer attention is well-deserved. I'm also imagining the level of technical work the first four actors and the director must put in when staging the play. For any passerby here, the acting work in those four roles is very challenging in unique ways, and an actor would have to be many cuts above to nail those roles. Seeing these credits on an acting resume would hold a lot of sway with me.
February 26, 2020
This was interesting and one of those plays I think probably works better on the stage. The first act was fun to read, and then it got a little more confusing. I think the visuals would be helpful. I can see what the author is trying to do, and it's very interesting, but hard to fully grasp while reading.
March 15, 2021
Probably the best play I've ever read. I recommend this to anyone who's trying to get into reading plays. This is a major piece of theatre and literature.
August 15, 2023
Brilliant. Creative. Hilarious. I could not put it down.
August 25, 2019
Most plays can be enjoyed while being read. Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, O'Neill, I've read their work and been able to create in my mind's eye the story they're telling. A few hundred years ago there was something called a closet drama, which was a play never meant to be staged but simply to be read. Fairview ain't no closet drama.
The winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Jackie Sibblies Drury's play demands to be seen, as the audience is very much involved with the production. Also, reading the play the first time I wasn't able to accurately imagine what was going on. I had to read a few reviews and watch a few interviews to fully understand what was happening.
Fairview begins like a parody of a TV sit-com, like The Jeffersons. A black family is preparing for the grandmother's birthday. Beverly is obsessively chopping carrots. Her dutiful husband is being sent on errands. She has a sister, a kind of caricature of the sassy black woman, who speaks in zingers. There is a teenage daughter, who wants to take a year off before she goes to college. You can almost hear the laugh track. At the end of Act I, Beverly faints.
The play then goes down the rabbit hole. In the second act the actors repeat the first act in gesture, while the audience hears a recording of four white voices, who are watching the play. They have an inane conversation answering the question, "If you could be any race, what would you choose?" This is a topic that no white person would have in front of a person who was not white. It suggests races could be like something you pick out in a boutique and try on, like a hat. One person says Asian, another says "Latinx," using the new gender-free designation. Another says Slav, which is pointed out really isn't a race, but an ethnicity.
In the third act, these actors invade the stage, taking on the roles of black stereotypes, and there almost seems to be a struggle between the actors from the two arenas. At the very end of the play Keisha, the teenager, breaks the fourth wall and invites the white audience members to change places with her. One critic cited that at the production he attended audience members actually talked back to the play.
Fairview is a play that makes us confront race, and it is a real confrontation. This would be a hard play to fall asleep to. Many white people have been offended by the play, as it suggests that we all have some racism in us, but I think that's true. Unless you are raised in some kind of utopian commune, we have all been indoctrinated to a certain degree to think of race as something that separates us, that makes us an "other."
During the voiceover one of the actors makes a long speech about the movie Hostel, which is a horror movie about a place in Eastern Europe where people are kidnapped and then tortured by rich people. The movie centers on the young people who are caught there and then escape, but the actor wonders about the rich people--how did they come to acquire this morbid hobby? How do we become racist? How do we learn to hate? Fairview raises some provocative questions, and we struggle to answer them.
The winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Jackie Sibblies Drury's play demands to be seen, as the audience is very much involved with the production. Also, reading the play the first time I wasn't able to accurately imagine what was going on. I had to read a few reviews and watch a few interviews to fully understand what was happening.
Fairview begins like a parody of a TV sit-com, like The Jeffersons. A black family is preparing for the grandmother's birthday. Beverly is obsessively chopping carrots. Her dutiful husband is being sent on errands. She has a sister, a kind of caricature of the sassy black woman, who speaks in zingers. There is a teenage daughter, who wants to take a year off before she goes to college. You can almost hear the laugh track. At the end of Act I, Beverly faints.
The play then goes down the rabbit hole. In the second act the actors repeat the first act in gesture, while the audience hears a recording of four white voices, who are watching the play. They have an inane conversation answering the question, "If you could be any race, what would you choose?" This is a topic that no white person would have in front of a person who was not white. It suggests races could be like something you pick out in a boutique and try on, like a hat. One person says Asian, another says "Latinx," using the new gender-free designation. Another says Slav, which is pointed out really isn't a race, but an ethnicity.
In the third act, these actors invade the stage, taking on the roles of black stereotypes, and there almost seems to be a struggle between the actors from the two arenas. At the very end of the play Keisha, the teenager, breaks the fourth wall and invites the white audience members to change places with her. One critic cited that at the production he attended audience members actually talked back to the play.
Fairview is a play that makes us confront race, and it is a real confrontation. This would be a hard play to fall asleep to. Many white people have been offended by the play, as it suggests that we all have some racism in us, but I think that's true. Unless you are raised in some kind of utopian commune, we have all been indoctrinated to a certain degree to think of race as something that separates us, that makes us an "other."
During the voiceover one of the actors makes a long speech about the movie Hostel, which is a horror movie about a place in Eastern Europe where people are kidnapped and then tortured by rich people. The movie centers on the young people who are caught there and then escape, but the actor wonders about the rich people--how did they come to acquire this morbid hobby? How do we become racist? How do we learn to hate? Fairview raises some provocative questions, and we struggle to answer them.
June 16, 2023
a play about how white (and generally non-Black people) consume content about Black people. reminded me of when divroh and i saw slave play for the first time and we were sitting next to this white guy who laughed REALLY hard at the first act. (the staging of slave play was also cool bc it had mirrors so the majority white audience could see themselves onstage w the actors, which felt similar to the ending of this play.)
July 9, 2020
Wow wow wow. This play leads you in one direction and then flips the switch.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, I can see why. However, I think this one is better seen than read. The second act is very difficult to follow without a visualization, especially as the conversation devolves into layers of discomfort regarding race and stereotypes. The third act especially, I can only imagine what it'd be like to be in the audience and invited onstage.
We open with what appears to be a suburban Black family, discussing "normal" domestic issues, going about their lives. But all is not as it seems...
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, I can see why. However, I think this one is better seen than read. The second act is very difficult to follow without a visualization, especially as the conversation devolves into layers of discomfort regarding race and stereotypes. The third act especially, I can only imagine what it'd be like to be in the audience and invited onstage.
We open with what appears to be a suburban Black family, discussing "normal" domestic issues, going about their lives. But all is not as it seems...
I’ve been trying to talk to You.
This whole time.
Have you heard me?
Do I have to tell them that I want them to make space for us
for them to make space for us?
October 12, 2024
ACT ONE appears to be a comedic family drama.
ACT TWO watches Act One.
ACT TWO pushes further into Act One and tries to drive it forward to make Act Three.
oh this is. wow. i fucking LOVE structural weirdness. this play is about a birthday dinner and also about a family and also about the white gaze and also about narrative but there is no way to explain it you just have to read it. goddamn
ACT TWO watches Act One.
ACT TWO pushes further into Act One and tries to drive it forward to make Act Three.
oh this is. wow. i fucking LOVE structural weirdness. this play is about a birthday dinner and also about a family and also about the white gaze and also about narrative but there is no way to explain it you just have to read it. goddamn
April 12, 2020
This play tackles the discussion of race in a way I have not seen before. It is satirical, absurd, and intimate. At times I felt as though I were reading the notes of the playwright instead of a script but most times I didn’t mind it and perhaps even enjoyed it. I really enjoyed the story, the dialogue, and the structure. I would be very interested in seeing a live production of this play.
January 2, 2025
Mind blown. See my review scribbled in the back of Amaya’s copy. Must see play asap now
November 3, 2025
This would be spectacular to see on the stage and is so worth the read
April 7, 2020
Clever, well constructed, funny, and thought-provoking play that talks about race from many different perspectives while continually breaking classic notions of a play's structure.
January 2, 2020
I selected this play to fulfill the Read Harder 2020 challenge #6: Read a play by an author of color and/or queer author, primarily because A Slave Play wasn't yet available, and Amazon bundled this with it in a recommended purchase. In my office, we're currently engaged in some intensely introspective and provocative conversations about educational equity and the recruitment, preparation, and support of a more diverse educator workforce to support a more diverse student body, while at the same time calibrating an equity lens in our existing, overwhelmingly white and female workforce. Core texts for this have included White Fragility and We Want To Do More Than Survive. I recommend adding this play, too, particularly for those like me who work through knotty issues best in metaphorical, narrative space. The issues of representation, appropriation, creating space for authentic listening to support sustainable human flourishing, and being a true ally in equity and anti-racist action all play out here, and confront the reader/spectator directly with how we interpret what we're witnessing. Because I was reading the play in book form, it was helpful to clarify my surface understanding of the play through this excellent review - https://www.vulture.com/2018/06/revie... - which helped me interpret how the play manifests itself physically, beyond the stage directions presented in the text.
May 3, 2022
now This is a play. boy oh boy.
before raving about the play i do wanna bring up the point that i didn’t read this in my preferred-play-reading-style. i read this in a classroom setting with people i’m incredibly fond of, with a lot of space between each act, and although in one way it made it a great experience it did take some points away from what it would have been like to simply sit with the content provided by Drury.
if i ever get the chance to see this play i’ll take it without hesitation. content aside, the writing is just fantastic- and i don’t just mean the dialogue. the sheer amount of both entertainment and commentary provided in the stage directions was masterfully done. and of course, the dialogue is just as fantastic. Drury not only wrote a play for an audience, she wrote it for the people working on it. every word is present for a reason, and nothing is forgotten.
content wise, i have no words. the criticism, commentary, and overall portrayal of questions of race is beautifully done. the play moves at a rapid pace consistently, and yet every point made by every character is well established for the audience. Drury did not only write a play that makes you reflect, she wrote a play that makes you feel as though you’re in it because guess what, you are
“i’ve been trying to talk to You. this whole time. have you heard me?”
there’s only so much i can say, and honestly there’s only so much i Should say. Drury, you wrote a masterpiece.
before raving about the play i do wanna bring up the point that i didn’t read this in my preferred-play-reading-style. i read this in a classroom setting with people i’m incredibly fond of, with a lot of space between each act, and although in one way it made it a great experience it did take some points away from what it would have been like to simply sit with the content provided by Drury.
if i ever get the chance to see this play i’ll take it without hesitation. content aside, the writing is just fantastic- and i don’t just mean the dialogue. the sheer amount of both entertainment and commentary provided in the stage directions was masterfully done. and of course, the dialogue is just as fantastic. Drury not only wrote a play for an audience, she wrote it for the people working on it. every word is present for a reason, and nothing is forgotten.
content wise, i have no words. the criticism, commentary, and overall portrayal of questions of race is beautifully done. the play moves at a rapid pace consistently, and yet every point made by every character is well established for the audience. Drury did not only write a play that makes you reflect, she wrote a play that makes you feel as though you’re in it because guess what, you are
“i’ve been trying to talk to You. this whole time. have you heard me?”
there’s only so much i can say, and honestly there’s only so much i Should say. Drury, you wrote a masterpiece.
January 7, 2020
Many of my goodreads reviews of my favorite books wax poetic about expanding the notions of "what great fiction can do," or something to that effect.
I've been reading more stage dramas of late - a form I've always been drawn to - all in an effort to better understand the parameters of "what great plays can do"...but I've never read anything quite like Fairview.
A structural funhouse mirror with a powerful, unapologetic point of view, this is the first play I've read where there were surprises, shocks, gut punches around every corner.
I loved it. I'm in awe of Jackie Sibblies Drury. I imagine I'll be seeking out productions of this play - from small scale community theater to big, splashy stagings - until the end of my days.
I've been reading more stage dramas of late - a form I've always been drawn to - all in an effort to better understand the parameters of "what great plays can do"...but I've never read anything quite like Fairview.
A structural funhouse mirror with a powerful, unapologetic point of view, this is the first play I've read where there were surprises, shocks, gut punches around every corner.
I loved it. I'm in awe of Jackie Sibblies Drury. I imagine I'll be seeking out productions of this play - from small scale community theater to big, splashy stagings - until the end of my days.
Read
May 5, 2020I don’t think it’s fair for me to rate this play because I didn’t really understand it at all. I’m not doubting that it must be a masterpiece based on all of the reviews and the awards. I think I would just need to see it performed for me to understand it. I hope I get the chance to see it one day!
November 8, 2021
https://www.vulture.com/2018/06/revie...
Becca’s Bookoplathon Sept. 2021: 3. 1 + 4 --> Current Events.
Becca’s Bookoplathon Sept. 2021: 3. 1 + 4 --> Current Events.
December 21, 2020
Fairview won a Pulitzer Prize in 2019. In trying to read this, I'm reminded of the importance of seeing a play, and how plays were really meant to be seen, not read. It's hard for me to evaluate this because after just reading it, I was left with a "meh" feeling. I may very well appreciate this more actually seeing it take place on the stage. An example I always share is A Midsummer Night's Dream. I read this in high school on my own, it was not assigned. I was curious about it because people always spoke so highly about it. But after I had finished reading it, I was underwhelmed, especially by the Mechanicals scene at the end. But then I saw the Kevin Kline movie and was just wowed. And the Mechanicals scene, which I had absolutely detested trying to just read? It was the best part. I've since also seen Midsummer live on at least three occasions and now this is my favorite Shakespeare play.
At any rate, the play starts as a fairly routine situation-style comedy, with a family preparing for a birthday dinner for the family matriarch. Then, the second scene introduces an audience(?) whose members have a running commentary on race. The third scene sort of melds the two, in a continuation of the first two acts. The third act was probably the strongest, in terms of comedy and in the overall message.
Fairview does have some interesting ideas but, again, I'm thinking it probably comes across better live and in-person, rather than just on the page. I will reserve final judgement if and when I actually get the chance to see this.
At any rate, the play starts as a fairly routine situation-style comedy, with a family preparing for a birthday dinner for the family matriarch. Then, the second scene introduces an audience(?) whose members have a running commentary on race. The third scene sort of melds the two, in a continuation of the first two acts. The third act was probably the strongest, in terms of comedy and in the overall message.
Fairview does have some interesting ideas but, again, I'm thinking it probably comes across better live and in-person, rather than just on the page. I will reserve final judgement if and when I actually get the chance to see this.
November 14, 2021
I've been in Pirandello, Luigi Six Characters in Search of an Author, so was familiar with the structure, but as I read, I tried to imagine what the audience must have felt seeing this play out.
Brilliant. Harsh. Surprising.
I'll reread this a few dozen times.
Brilliant. Harsh. Surprising.
I'll reread this a few dozen times.
September 16, 2022
what a hell of a play. i want to own a copy now so i can read it over and over again and try to understand it more. i know obviously winning a pulitzer prize makes it good but going into this without knowing anything or even reading the synopsis… i felt so taken aback. even if you think you know what is going to happen, you really don’t, and i just loved it.
September 11, 2024
I think I went into this with a misunderstanding of what it was about and its goal. I think this play does a great job of achieving its intended goal and relays an important message. However, as I went into this with a reading-for-pleasure mindset rather than critical consideration, I didn't enjoy it in that way and I didn't think it was funny. However, I would like to see it performed as I'm sure that would be more impactful.
May 12, 2022
Very cerebral play. Would love to see it staged.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 244 reviews