Seven Guitars

Seven Guitars is a play by August Wilson, one of ten plays in The Pittsburgh Cycle. The Cycle covers Black History in the United States of America, with one play for each decade. The plays are not strictly connected, but sometimes characters or the children of characters return, and they are connected through Black History, Jazz, The Blues, and other aspects of Black Culture. There is also often a mentally impaired oracular character, such as Hedley in Seven Guitars. Seven Guitars is a play from the 40's, and it mainly concerns Floyd Barton, who is a Blues Musician who has recorded a hit song, "That's All Right" and is trying to get to Chicago where he has been invited to record some more. Hedley makes his living by tending and cooking chickens, but he may not be right in the head. He often refers to trumpeter Buddy Bolden and a Black Folk song where the legendary New Orleans jazzman returns bearing money. As Hedley becomes increasingly unhinged Floyd is still trying to get to Chicago; and also trying to convince old flame Vera to go with him. He needs to get his guitar out of hock, as he is booked to play a dance for Mother's Day, and then on to Chicago. This is the first play I have read from August Wilson's cycle, and it makes me curious to read the rest, though now that I know the chronology, I will start with Gem of the Ocean and work my way through. Better yet, I would like to see the plays performed, to really experience them as they were intended. I like how he has encapsulated a century of history into ten plays. One thing that perplexed me about Seven Guitars though: I only counted one guitar, and kept waiting for the other six to make their appearance. Though Floyd is a totally fictional character, I would say that he comes closest to Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup who toured through the Southland in the 40's with Elmore James and Sonny Boy Williamson. He also had a song entitled "That's All Right" and it was this song that was recorded by Elvis Presley, kind of goofing off after several lackluster attempts to record more Perry Comoish material in Sun Studios in Memphis. They let the tape roll, and Elvis had found the sound and direction that would launch his phenomenal career. Seven Guitars and The Pittsburgh Cycle pays tribute to the various unsung heroes--not just the Musicians but the grandmothers and the men and women who struggled through their everyday lives--of the rich cultural tapestry of Black America in the 20th Century. The Pittsburgh Cycle 1900s - Gem of the Ocean (August Wilson Century Cycle) (2003) 1910s - Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1984) 1920s - Ma Raineys Black Bottom (1982) - set in Chicago 1930s - The Piano Lesson (1989) - Pulitzer Prize 1940s - Seven Guitars (1995) 1950s - Fences, a Play By August Wilson (1985) - Pulitzer Prize 1960s - Two Trains Running (August Wilson Century Cycle) (1990) 1970s - Jitney: A Play in Two Acts (1983) 1980s - King Hedley II (The August Wilson Century Cycle) (2001) 1990s - R

Okay, blame it on the recently departed Studs Terkel and his damn interview books. I had just been reading his "The Spectator", a compilation of some of his interviews of various authors, actors and other celebrities from his long-running Chicago radio program when I came across an interview that he had with the playwright under review here, August Wilson. Of course, that interview dealt with things near and dear to their hearts on the cultural front and mine as well. Our mutual love of the blues, our concerns about the history and fate of black people and the other oppressed of capitalist society and our need to express ourselves politically in the best way we can. For Studs it was the incessant interviews, for me it is incessant political activity and for the late August Wilson it was his incessant devotion to his century cycle of ten plays that covered a range of black experiences over the 20th century. Strangely, although I was familiar with the name of the playwright August Wilson and was aware that he had produced a number of plays that were performed at a college-sponsored repertory theater here in Boston I had not seen or read his plays prior to reading the Terkel interview. Naturally when I read there that one of the plays being discussed was entitled "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" about the legendary female blues singer from the 1920's I ran out to get a copy of the play. That play has been reviewed elsewhere in this space but as is my habit when I read an author who "speaks" to me I grab everything I can by him or her to see where they are going with the work. This is doubly true in the case of Brother Wilson as his work is purposefully structured as an integrated cycle, and as an intensive dramatic look at the black historical experience of the 20th century that has driven a lot of my own above-mentioned political activism. The action of this play takes place in a black neighborhood in Pittsburgh (Wilson's home town) in 1948. This, moreover, is the fifth and thus the middle play in the century cycle. Both these facts are important in understanding the tensions of the play. One of Terkel's oral histories is entitled "The Good War", about the trials and tribulations of those on all sides of the conflict in World War II and from all strata in the American experience of that war. Implicit in Terkel's use of quotation marks around the words in his title is that, on reflection and with time the expectations from that war might not be all they were made out to be. That, at least, jibes with my own sense of the dilemma that confronted those who fought the war. I believe that Wilson also is reflecting on that understanding in this work since some promises were made to black people then that "their boats would also rise" after their key role in industry on the home front and in the ranks of the (segregated) army. The story line, as seems to be axiomatic with Wilson, is fairly straight forward if the issues presented and the dialogue spoken tha

In my opinion I feel that Wilson's FENCES is his best play. I've read THE PIANO LESSON and SEVEN GUITARS. August Wilson is an EXCELLENT playwright who truly captures the African American struggle with such humor, satire, irony, hope, and sadness. This was a good read, but not one of his best to me.

August Wilson's play "Seven Guitars" had its Broadway premiere in 1996. The play follows seven African-American characters, both male and female, in Pittsburgh in 1948. The first scene opens after the funeral of one character, and the play then moves back in time to tell his story.There is a lot of excellent material in this play. Wilson expertly weaves in songs, humor, one character's recipe for turnip greens, and a funny discourse on the difference between Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi roosters. One character, Floyd, is a talented musician, and his arc offers a perspective on African-American artistic aspiration.Probably the most memorable character in the play is Hedley, a hardworking entrepreneur who is tormented by rage and lust. His dialogue is particularly rich, as he invokes Toussaint L'Ouverture, Marcus Garvey, and traditional African-American biblical interpretation. Overall, "Seven Guitars" is a frequently compelling play with well-written dialogue.

Although not quite on a par with "Fences" or "The Piano Lesson," Wilson's story of a blues musician and his companions in the late '40s is still a compelling read. As usual, he creates music in the language of his characters, all of whom are distinctly drawn."Seven Guitars" recounts the fate of a Pittsburgh blues musician, Floyd "Schoolboy" Barton, who scores a hit record in Chicago, but falls short of capitalizing on his success, either with his music, or with his on-again, off-again love, Vera. Along the way, we meet his musician friends, Canewell and Red, his crusty neighbor Louise, the seductive young visitor Ruby, and the mysterious Hedley, who orates on Marcus Garvey, Ethiopia and Buddy Bolden while he goes about his job butchering chickens for sale on the streets of Pittsburgh.The play's vibrancy springs not only from the characters' plain-spoken poetry, but from Wilson's knowledge of blues, folk legends, superstitions and from his vivid recreation in print of a particular place: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which he has managed to turn into a place of literary myth. As in "Fences" and in his play set in the '60s, "Two Trains Running" Wilson relies strongly on a character verging on and descending into madness. In "Seven Guitars," it's Hedley, and the way you feel about the play will be determined in part by your reaction to this character and how Wilson uses him. For me, Hedley's motivation was a bit too murky, and his most important act at the end of the play did not mesh well with the motivation Wilson developed for Floyd, the ambitious bluesman. Because of this problem, "Seven Guitars" lacks the powerful thematic punch of "Fences" and "The Piano Lesson."Still, this play makes a fine addition to Wilson's dramatic cycle that explores African-American life through the twentieth century. The play confirms his place as one of the great voices in the American theater.