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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
JITNEY is the best play I have ever seen., February 1, 2002
This review is from: Jitney (Hardcover)
August Wilson's Jitney opened off-broadway in New York in the Spring of 2001. I saw the play 3 times within 3 weeks, and I took my father the last. It isn't about seeing a play. It's about experiencing and sharing hope. Set in Pittsburgh, PA of the 1970's, the play centers around jitney/car service drivers as they try to let go of the past, and embrace future changes in themselves and their environment. They're decent, hard working middle-aged black men who are questioning their lives, wondering if they accomplished enough, made mistakes, or have been lead astray and are desparately trying to find a way to rectify themselves, even warn the angry young not to make the same mistakes. The main story is about Becker, the owner of the Jitney and his relationship with his son Booster, who was recently released from a 20 year prison sentence for killing a rich white society girl after she falsely testified he was rapist. Becker has always been a pillar to his community, and he has never forgiven or understood his son's act. Booster, who could have been another Albert Einstein, was barely twenty when killed the girl. Because of changing times and laws, he was spared the death penalty, but not until after his mother dies of a broken heart, which is something Becker holds Booster responsible for. Will Becker forgive Booster? Is Booster sorry? What will become of Booster, a once promising scholar, who, it seems, has thrown the important years of his life away. Will Becker hold onto the Jitney or will it be demolished to make way for a mall or something similar. Will the young Vietnam Vet be able to close on the house that will make life better for his young family? What I particularly liked about this play is that, right or wrong, the characters believably argue their convictions. It's as if the audience is deciding who's right. Events are never slanted. While there are a number of powerful scenes, the one that stands out for me is the reunion between Becker and Booster as Booster tries to justify why he killed the girl. The play is never preachy or slanted. The play kept me and a packed audience on the edge of our seats, literally, up until and including the last word. Each time I went, the play was met with automatic standing ovation. Whether you're an actor looking for something to sink your teeth in or a person that appreciates a skillfully action and character driven play, Jitney is worth reading. I went 3 times for the language and skillfully developed scenes.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A man of honor and his imprisoned son, March 15, 2005
It's clear to say, that one outstanding act in this play may be one of August Wilson's most powerful and emotional. It is a scene where a proud father who refused his son for twenty years now encounters him when he is released from prison for murder.
In the series of plays that chronicle the black experience, Jitney is set in the early 70s and is about jitney (car service) drivers who provide low fares to the black community in Pittsburgh. The setting is in a dilapidated section of town that is experiencing the city boarding up buildings, a practice that characteristically doesn't result in improvements. The building that houses the car service with that of several men's livelihood is considered for boarding up.
The characters are young and old, a busybody, an alcoholic, a young father, a Korean war vets, etc. These characters have minor stories, but nothing as profound as the main character, 60ish Becker, who manages the jitney car service. It is his son Booster who was spared the death penalty and is released from prison.
At that time of the murder, many young blacks did not take well the treatment from whites that their parents were subjected too. These younger blacks grew up with an attitude and were shamed that their parents didn't stand up to white folks. The younger generation resorts to violence. Consequently, Becker's son Booster kills a white girl for lying that she was raped by him.
Becker, a man of honor, is humiliated by the actions of his son. Becker also confirms that Booster's mother died very soon after sentencing. She could not bear to hear from the judge ...."that the life she brought in the world was unfit to live."
This lengthy exchange of dialogue between Beck and his son is profound and with Act 1 Scene 3 and 4 makes up the entire worth of the play.....Rizz
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wilson's Cab Drivers Strike a Nerve, August 3, 2009
"Jitney" (!982, revised up until 2000) was August Wilson's first play; the time period was 1977, and it's part of his Century Cycle of Pittsburgh plays. It takes place in the station of a gypsy cab company where drivers take calls for taxi runs around the neighborhoods. What the reader takes away from the play is Wilson's masterful creation of real people, his Afro-American brothers and sisters, his ear for authentic conversation, and his use of heightened language when his people are commenting on the human condition in an often eloquent and pithy manner. Frequently what they say is a kind of popular wisdom learned through lives of hard knocks. They behave, talk, and move like real people.
The plot seems to be zeroing in on Youngblood, his problems with girlfriend Rena, and threats from an interfering fellow driver Turnbo who has a gun. Then the story takes a turn and focuses on the boss of the jitney car station Becker. The city is about to tear down the station for urban renewal. Becker's son Booster is just released from prison after serving a twenty year sentence for the homicide of his white girlfriend. Becker rejects his son and has no use for him, like Troy, the father in Wilson's "Fences," he lacks any sense of forgiveness.
The play lacks a single-minded arc when it veers off in Becker's direction. It ends up where you don't expect it.
The play mirrors the life of Afro-Americans functioning in a white-dominated world, but I don't think it attempts to make political or polemical statements. It is descriptive, not prescriptive: this is the way the world is.
Choosing a gypsy cab station for the milieu of the play was an inspiration because it allows for the frequent entrance and exit of characters, and gives insights into the larger society as the drivers interact with passengers and Shealy, the numbers taker. It also allows for a great deal of heartfelt humor.
As a playwright you have to be careful you don't pile up too many weights or burdens on your characters, because you may just wear down the audience which may feel enough is enough already. Sometimes you wish that Wilson's characters would just break down, hug each other and show compassion or pity. Becker seems mean-spirited and heartless.
This play has a lot of good, quotable lines, a lot of folk wisdom and folksy lines.
"You look up one day and all you got left is what you ain't spent."
"Everywhere you went people treated you like a big man. You used to take me to the barbershop with you. You'd walk in there and fill up the whole place."
"The only thing left to do is write on his tombstone. `Here lies Bubba Boo. Was caught with Betty Jean instead of Betty Sue.'"
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