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Island and The Exonerated are not pieces about prison. They
are glances into the minds of innocent prisoners. The two
performances are recounts, real and imaginary, of victims
of mistakes and unjust authority. Needless to say, The Island
and The Exonerated are meant more for insight than entertainment
purposes.
The 30-year-old play, The Island, performed for the last
time at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), takes place in
the era of Apartheid in South Africa. The mere existence
of the play is significant - the piece was written through
an illegal white/black collaboration. John Kani and Winston
Ntshona play the same roles they did 30 years ago when the
performance first premiered in England. They take on the
 roles
of prisoners who are preparing to perform the ancient Greek
play, Antigone. Throughout the performance, it becomes clear
how the Greek play is relevant to the characters’
situation. In the Greek play, Antigone is sentenced to death
for the simple act of burying her brother, a soldier on
the “wrong” side of a war. The two prisoners
face long sentences for no other crime than being the “wrong”
race in the time of Apartheid.
The sit-down reading of The Exonerated is a mixture of many
“wrongs.” The play is based on interviews from
real former inmates who were mistakenly sentenced to death
row. The six exonerated characters (out of a 10-person cast)
share their stories of being victims of racism, lies and
society in general. As their stories unfold in fragments,
the holes of the United States Judicial system become clearer
and deeper.
The six individual stories of The Exonerated develop into
the same story of
survival as The Island. Each character is faced with the
challenge of not letting their surroundings break them and
not letting their humanity fade. More importantly, each
character is ultimately faced with this challenge alone.
The performances of The Island and The Exonerated are each
presented in a unique style. In The Island, there are two
real characters and various other invisible characters,
who Kani and Ntshona interact with. The lack of presence
of the invisible characters (guards and other prisoners),
give the feeling that the two men are completely alone.
The feeling of isolation is even incorporated into the stage
setup itself. The characters live in a five by five square
representing their prison cell, in which they do not step
more than four feet out of. The two characters use every
single inch of their space, showing how the prisoners may
be isolated but not completely confined. 
On the other hand, The Exonerated has little to no motion
at all. The intense storyline and abrupt sounds throughout
the performance are the factors that bring the performance
to life. These factors are so enriching to the performance,
at times, the audiences forget the characters are even sitting
down.
The Island and The Exonerated are extremely powerful pieces,
but even such potent plays miss a few marks. The characters
in The Island are less than innocent when they speak about
women. In fact, the way they speak about women as objects
of satisfaction hints on sexism. However, this may just
be an unfortunate reflection of actual society. Ironically,
The Exonerated may not reflect society enough. The play
does not include any Hispanic Americans, who represent large
numbers in prison and have undoubtedly fell under the unjust
hand of the law. The Exonerated also does not, at times,
dig deep into the background of some of its characters.
The performance often feels like it was written to make
a few characters shine, while making the other characters
a little less memorable.
The Island and the Exonerated are creative lessons about
what happens when the law becomes corrupt or completely
fails the ones it is supposed to serve. Both of these performances
allow the audience to walk away with the will to reanalyze
society and rethink their trust.
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