"La tragédie du Roi Christophe" à Chicago

Most presidents of most democratic republics come to entertain a pernicious and thus secret thought: this would all be so much easier if only I were king, or queen, instead.

But King Christophe, the fascinating one and only monarch of the self-styled Kingdom of Haiti, actually put that notion into practice. After first ruling as president of the State of Haiti, the formerly enslaved Christophe declared himself king of that Caribbean nation in 1811, and then set about building a kind of shadow version of a European monarchy, replete with castles, palaces and a bunch of court hangers-on including dukes, counts, princes and chevaliers. He then tried to protect all of that from the French colonialists, against whom the people of Haiti had rebelled in a battle lasting from 1791-1804 that ultimately resulted in Haitian independence.

Things did not end well, alas, for Christophe, the subject of the play “The Tragedy of King Christophe” now at House Theatre, as adapted and directed by that company’s artistic director, Lanise Antoine Shelley.

The actual script here is not a new work, but a 1963 piece by the French Martinique writer Aimé Fernand David Césaire, an important literary figure and an early and highly influential denouncer of racist colonialist thinking.

I remember reading the play in a post-colonialist drama class in college, although I’ve never before seen it staged. Césaire admired William Shakespeare (he also wrote a Black adaptation of “The Tempest,” which I have seen performed), and he embraced the Bard’s rich characterizations and epic sensibility.

Franco de Medina (Chris Khoshaba) toasts Madame (Leslie Ann Sheppard) and King Christophe (William Anthony Sebastian Rose II) in "The Tragedy of King Christophe" by House Theatre of Chicago at the Chopin Theatre. (Michael Brosilow / HANDOUT)

“King Christophe” is a heady and complicated work, to say the least, and yet for anyone interested in the fervent history of Haiti, a fascinating piece. The play is structured somewhere between a history play and a tragedy. As played here by William Anthony Sebastian Rose II, the title character variously puts you in mind of Shakespeare’s Henry V, Sophocles’ Oedipus and Eugene O’Neill’s Emperor Jones, trying to reconcile populist obligations with a desire for personal power. What makes Césaire so unlike those other writers, though, is his explicit exploration of how colonialist practices made Christophe’s original aims impossible, thus condemning him and his people to the very journey the play explores.

So. This is one ambitious production, wholly unlike anything House ever has produced before and more what you expect to see at a classically oriented theater, if they were up for broadening their repertoire. The production certainly makes the case that the American theater should look again at Césaire, a guy who achieved so much in the literary and political fields that his drama often gets overlooked.

I found the staging at times to be anticipating its own ending and, more specifically, the production needs to pay more attention to the sharp dividing lines in the main character’s trajectory: the point when the revolutionary gives up at least part of his idealism; the moment when the monarchal rot ruins all he has achieved; the impact on the ordinary people whose fate is intertwined with their leader. All of those turning points are crucial places for the audience to enter, and turn with, the story.

William Anthony Sebastian Rose II as King Christophe in "The Tragedy of King Christophe" by House Theatre of Chicago at the Chopin Theatre. (Michael Brosilow / HANDOUT)

That said, I was greatly intrigued throughout: the show features live drumming from Eric Thomas, rich choreography from Sadira Muhammad and an expansive set from Michelle Lilly that combines both the exuberance of the title character with the skewed nature of the circumstances into which he is thrust. A large cast, which includes Leslie Ann Sheppard, Keith Illidge, Matthew Lolar, Mondisa Monde, Jyreika Guest, Chris Khoshaba and Christian Bufford, throws itself into a genuinely immersive project with authenticity and passion. And the hugely difficult central performance is impressive: Rose rises to fit Césaire’s linguistic and theatrical demands.

This really is the kind of project you’d normally see on college campuses with greater resources. In Wicker Park, Shelley has pulled off something notable, in service of the resilience of the country of her birth and of what remains possible in Chicago theater if an audience is willing to take a risk.

Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com

Review: “The Tragedy of King Christophe”

When: through May 29

Where: House Theatre of Chicago at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St.

Running time: 2 hours

Tickets: $42-$50 at 773-769-3832 and thehousetheatre.com