Reckless Eyeballing

Supported by powerful director Jim Minsk and preeminent playwright Jack Brashford, Ian Ball, a Black southern playwright hated by theater feminists, hopes to redeem himself with a play in which women have all the good parts

A Jewish stage director is killed by a mob of anti-Semitic "Christians," a black female playwright flees the New York celebrity rat race, a young Caribbean playwright becomes a huge (but, he realizes, hollow) success, a masked black man shaves feminists' heads, an Archie Bunkerish Irishman sees the lightand yet nothing much seems to happen in Reed's (Mumbo Jumbo latest satire. Most of the book is devoted to long monologues by various characters against "the enemy": black men, black women, sexists, feminists, Jews, gentiles and occasional combinations. There is one hilarious scene, however, concerning a play that seeks to rehabilitate Eva Braun (portrayed as a victim like everyone else). The view of life at the top in a British colony in the Caribbean is devastating in its depiction of how rotten the ruling class can be to its own people. At the book's dreamy end, novelist-playwright-poet Reed seems to agree with Pogo: the enemy is us.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ian Ball's first play, a box office smash, enraged feminists everywhere. The young black author plans to win them over with his latest, which will be edited, acted, and produced by women. As opening night nears, a mad molester begins accosting noted feminists and shaving their heads. Various disgruntled black males are immediately suspected, and an aging cop, who combines the worst qualities of Dirty Harry and Archie Bunker, begins to investigate. This sketchy plot serves as a springboard for Reed's sardonic observations on racial and sexual politics. There's something to offend and amuse everyone. However, those who complained that Reed's earlier novels were overburdened with historical and occult lore may find this one a bit impoverished by their absence. An enjoyable minor work by a major Afro-American author. Edward B. St. John, Loyola Marymount Univ. Lib.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.