Slave Ship

Slave Ship Summary | Detailed Summary

The play opens in darkness, and the audience sits in dark silence for a long time. Then, the room gradually fills with the sounds and odors of a slave ship. There are the smell of unwashed bodies and excrement, the crack of a whip, and the moans and screams of terrified people. African drums play in the background, punctuated by screaming. There is a great and terrifying sense of bodies crammed into a tight space, the cargo hold of a ship. The drumming and screaming continues until the ship's bell tolls, and the slave ship sets sail. Voices permeate the darkness to indicate the ship is sailing. The crew, laughing, wants to go to America to sell the cargo.

The action flashes back to the ship's hold. Dim light reveals women screaming, and children crying. A mother comforts her child, Moshake, and asks Orisha to save them. A man scolds her and tells her to conserve her energy. Another man begins to pray. Drums beat, and the cast rattles their chains and begins to moan and sing. Eventually, they scream. The drums and moans build tension until a mother searches for her child, Ifanami. The drums soften, and the cast begins to hum "in the slow misery of slavery."

The lights flash on to reveal grinning white sailors. The white men laugh and point at the misery they have created in capturing the people and chaining them in a ship's cargo hold. The drums grow louder, and then the women begin to moan again, in darkness. The entire cast of slaves begins screaming and praying again. A man calls the white sailors devils and beasts. Meanwhile, a woman strangles herself with her chains. The people around her pray. Her husband weeps. People struggle to breathe in the cramped space. As this action is happening, the woman is still searching for Ifanami. A man attacks her while she searches, but is fought off by another man. The two men fight, and lights come on again to reveal the white sailors laughing at the scuffle.

After the fight, the stage returns to darkness again. The drums continue, the cast moans and repeats their prayers and screams. The laughter can be heard over all the other sounds. A man screams that he will break his chains, while another woman discovers a dead mother and child.

In an abrupt shift of action, lights suddenly flash to show Tom, a slave shuffling along. He is a caricature of a man, raggedy and scratching himself. He begins to prostrate to his master. Lights flash, as he dances and bows. The scene now appears to be taking place in America, off the ship and into the fields. After Tom shuffles past, the darkness returns with the cast humming and moaning. Drums beat yet again, but are again drowned out by laughter. The ghost of a mother still searches for Moshake, weeping. The cast moans, and then banjo music brings the action to a plantation.

Soft lights ease on to reveal slaves banding together, planning a mutiny. Tom reports this plan to his master and is rewarded with a pork chop. The lights dim to screaming and gun shots, as the owners quell the revolt by shooting the slaves. Through sounds, the audience observes a great melee. There are sounds of white voices degrading the slaves, black voices condemning their oppressors. The cast returns to their screaming and moaning. Lights flash to reveal Tom eating his pork chop, terrified of what he sees. Happy with their success in stopping the revolt, the white men give Tom an additional pork chop.

A sudden shift of light and sound occurs. On stage, the ghosts continue to search for their children, the white and black men continue to fight, and the screams and moans of the cast rise, as people are killed on stage. The cacophony of sounds raises tension and begins to fade away. The women begin to hum a spiritual.

In another abrupt shift, lights flash to a church. The preacher is Tom, trying to convince the white men to reach a peaceful agreement with the enemy. The ghosts, screams and drums return. The preacher stutters while asking for integration and equality. As this is going on, another black man carries in the body of a burned baby from a black church bombing. Tom nudges the body away with his foot and continues to plead.

Suddenly, saxophone music punctuates the drumming and moaning, as if something drastic has happened. The lights go down, and the sounds of the slave ship return, mixed with new humming and the saxophone. The cast sings a new song, joining together and singing of rising up to overcome their troubles.

The lights come on reveal Tom, still yammering to the white man. The cast approaches him, and he panics. The sounds continue, as the lights grow brighter, and Tom grows terrified. The cast is dancing across the stage in unison and converges on Tom to kill him.

After the black people have killed the submissive Tom, the white voice begins to worry and begs the cast not to kill him. He offers them anything they want. Lights fade to the sounds of the slave ship again. Dim light reveals the cast still dancing and singing their revolutionary song. Someone throws the head of Tom onto the floor, and the play ends with the cast all energetically dancing.