Jackie Sibblies Drury has taken a shredder to the sacred Great Person biodrama and let the pieces fall like confetti. In “Marys Seacole,” her breathless and radiant new play, the title character is indeed just the sort of worthy soul who qualifies for an inspirational story of uplift. Her name, to be exact, is Mary Seacole. She dared to cross oceans and race lines, and wrote a juicy, self-celebrating memoir, “Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands.” A statue of her now stands nobly before St. Thomas’s Hospital in London. “Marys Seacole,” which opened on Monday night at the Claire Tow Theater, in a Lincoln Center Theater production, includes the obligatory elements for a crowd-pleasing portrait of such a life.

Source: New York Times February 26, 2019 02:37 UTC