“The Fires” brings us simultaneously into the lives and loves of three Black gay men occupying the same railroad apartment in South Brooklyn, but decades apart — Jay (Phillip James Brannon) in 1974, Sam (Sheldon Best) in 1998, Eli (Beau Badu) in 2021. They go about their daily lives oblivious to one another’s presence (since they’re living in different eras) even when they’re in the same bed!
This photograph, for example, captures a typical moment:
At the far left, in the bedroom, Jay sits in 1974, at a desk with a portable manual typewriter, while in the kitchen, Sam in 1998 reads from somebody else’s journal (more on that later), and Eli in 2021, just out of the shower, pours himself a drink. The actor climbing atop the bed to the immediate right of Jay is Ronald Peet, who portrays Jay’s lover George. Peet also portrays two other characters, Sean and Kayne, who are two of Eli’s sex buddies.
That all eleven characters (portrayed by a fine eight-member cast) move in and around Raphael Mishler’s three-room set with such precision, grace, sexiness and clarity is a testament to the well-honed skills of one of the most sought-after choreographers in New York, Raja Feather Kelly. Kelly is directing “The Fires,” splendidly. He is also making his Off-Broadway playwriting debut as its author. Would that his writing matched the clarity and precision of his direction.
All three men are, or aim to be, writers. Jay is trying to write a book about Aphrodite, the goddess of love. (I didn’t catch what the other two are working on.) All three are confused, in different ways, about love. Jay and George live together, but are unhappy – although I didn’t catch why. There seems to be some suggestion during a visit by Jay’s brother Reggie (Jason Veasey) that Jay is ashamed of his homosexuality. In all three eras, the men seem stuck.
Sam is unable to leave the apartment, which he inherited from his father. Sam is suffering from agoraphobia and depression over the suicide of his father. He only grudgingly permits visits by his mother Leslie (Michelle Wilson) and his teenage sister Rowan (Janelle McDermoth.) He seems convinced that his father was gay, after reading from the red notebooks left in the apartment.
Since we also see both Jay in 1974 and Eli in 2021 holding those red notebooks, this seems significant (The play could have been called “The Notebook,” if that title weren’t already taken.) “It’s all very coded,” Sam says about the notebooks (and perhaps so is the play he’s in.) As “The Fires” progresses, we’re made to understand there are connections among the three men. We do see that grown-up Rowan, Sam’s sister, is Eli’s friend and his landlady, but the script holds back information in order to deliver twists, particularly about the identity of Sam’s father — neither Sam nor his family ever utter the father’s name; this made the “a-ha!” moment feel not worth the confusion. Similarly, there is an effort at lyricism in the monologues that too often registered as vagueness.
The clearest year in “The Fires” is the most recent one, not so much because Eli’s relationships are less confused — he and Maurice (Jon-Michael Reese) have a complicated past and uncertain present – but because we’re so meticulously rooted in a distinctive era; only three years ago, but already the past. Eli uses his smart phone and laptop and Alexa; he also vapes; the characters wear face masks, but (shrewd detail) even when they don’t, they carry one in their hand.
That kind of rigorous observation is one of Kelly’s specialties, perhaps most spectacularly expressed in his choreography for Jackie Siblies Drury’s Pulitzer winning drama “Fairview” – a play, not a musical, that depended to an unusual degree on the way the characters moved; one whole act was, in a way, entirely movement. (Here’s my review to explain that, in case it’s still considered a spoiler.) This gift for telling a story through movement may be why some will love “The Fires” even if they don’t especially love or even understand the script. But surely such a talented storyteller can learn to move us equally in any language.
The Fires
Soho Rep through June 16. Update: Extended through June 30
Running time: one hour and 50 minutes, no intermission
Tickets: $35
Written and directed by Raja Feather Kelly
music composed by Emily Wells, dramaturgy by Dominique Rider
Scenic design by Raphael Mishler, Costume design by Naoko Nagata and Enver Chakartash, lighting design by Bryan Ealey, sound design by Salvador Zamora, hair and makeup design by Karine Ivey, intimacy and fight director Teniece Divya Johnson
Cast: Beau Badu as Eli, Sheldon Best as Sam, Phillip James Brannon as Jay, Janelle McDermoth as Rowan, Ronald Peet as George/Sean/Kayne, Jon-Michael Reese as Maurice, Jason Veasey as Billy/Reggie, and Michelle Wilson as Leslie.
