We all may have our own private lives, but by keeping those lives private, we doom ourselves and those around us to a life without understanding and, therefore, without love. “They don’t know love. No one understands them.” (Raja Feather Kelly, The Fires)
In The Fires, Raja Feather Kelly tackles an intergenerational story of Black queer men whose lives resist understanding and the people in their lives who attempt anyway. Known as a choreographer, it’s no surprise that Kelly’s play relies heavily on rhythm and movement. The generations continuously weave into each other, and Kelly’s dialogue oscillates between a luxurious legato and a snappy staccato. Though there are moments of heartbreaking beauty, the play rarely stays in one place (ironic since it takes place in a single apartment) long enough to make a cohesive statement.
Kelly’s strongest theme in this piece is the loss of legacy and the subsequent loss of understanding, best illustrated by his character, Sam.
In 1998, Sam is living in his late father’s apartment, where he has discovered some old journals. Sam struggles with a profound darkness that he cannot understand, which is exacerbated by his father’s sudden suicide. Through analyzing these journals, he concludes that his father was gay—a connection that makes him feel closer to understanding his father than he ever has. He's met with fierce resistance when he tries to bring this connection to his family. His family cannot understand why this connection is so important to him. In 1974, Jay is similarly struggling with a lack of understanding. He’s a writer who seems haunted by his words and inability to understand the world. The haunting strains his relationships with his lover and his family.
THE REST OF THIS IS GOING TO GET PRETTY SPOILER-HEAVY.
Kelly teases that Jay is Sam’s father and that the spirits haunting Jay were passed down to his son. However, by the show's end, we understand that Sam’s father is Jay’s lover, George. Despite his devotion to Jay, George was crushed by the weight of living a double life as a husband, father, AND writer’s paramour. This twist exemplifies Kelly’s strongest statement. The emptiness that follows Jay is not a result of his genetics. George’s choice of hiding a significant aspect of his life and identity creates an unfordable chasm between him and his son. The futile action of trying to cross this chasm leads Sam to make a drastic decision concerning his life. Because Kelly gives us Jay as a red herring, there is relatively little known about George, which prevents me from confidently drawing a thematic tie between the two. However, Sam’s desperate need to understand himself and his inability to do so was incredibly tangible and, in my opinion, the play's heart.
This theme is muddied by the story’s third plot line. In 2021, Rowan sister of Sam, allows her friend Eli to live in her brother’s old apartment. COVID has run rampant, and hookup culture is in full swing. Eli’s running through Grindr boys, writing op-eds about fuckboys, and resisting true romantic commitment is a lack of understanding that seems to be on par with those of the earlier storylines. If the storylines aren't meant to be considered equal, Kelly is painting a shallow view of the current state of Black queer love, which, though not unrealistic, is deeply upsetting. Eli and Maurice are friends and lovers who continually play games with each other while their friends think they “need to get married and just die in each other’s game-playin arms.” Because this storyline is the closest to our present and is the historical conclusion of this decades-long quest for understanding, the play tells us that this relationship's resolution will be the resolution of each relationship we’ve seen. In this goal, the play is severely lacking. It can be argued that the play is not trying to resolve the mistakes of our queer ancestors, as that cannot be our contemporary responsibility. The unsatisfying resolution, therefore, is more realistic. However, realism is not always synonymous with drama.
Kelly is wrestling with an incredibly heartfelt and prescient story. Unfortunately, he spends stage time working through a “fuckboy narrative” that could’ve been much more effectively spent fleshing out his other characters.
The Fires is written and directed by Raja Feather Kelly. It plays May 8 – June 16th at SoHoRep. Get your tickets!
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