Portland Center Stage

Marty Hughley | The Oregonian [Review 19 Mar 2013]

Amid the desolation of the Civil War’s waning days, a newly freed slave has been looting—liberating, he prefers to say—clothing, china, liquor and so forth from the abandoned houses of Richmond, Virginia. And in a brief exchange between a wounded Confederate soldier and the thief, Matthew Lopez’ drama “The Whipping Man,” which opened Friday at Portland Center Stage, lays out what we might call an immoral equivalency: “What’s all this?” “Things.” “Whose?” “Mine now.” “What are you going to do with it?” “Own it.” “Why?” “Because I can.”

Gigi Little | Ut Omnia Bene Blog [Review 19 Mar 2013]

I was captivated even before The Whipping Man started last night at the Gerding Theater.

Down across the darkened stage, in the little arched window over the front door of the DeLeon house, I could already see the rain. A hint of glitter across the glass. I felt smart for noticing - and then wondered if they’d “turned on” the rain this early just to give people something to feel smart for noticing. As it turned out, the rain was an almost constant element in Portland Center Stage’s production of The Whipping Man, a perfect constant, reminding me of the harshness of the world and the fragile safety of home but also helping create the intense crucible that this particular home was intended to be.