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A Big Blue Nail
For a play meant to shine a light on Matthew Henson—the African-American assistant to explorer Robert Peary with a plausible claim that he, not Peary, was the first man to stand at the North Pole—Big Blue Nail does a curious thing: It sets the action almost entirely in Peary’s head. Framed by an imagined visit by Henson to a feverish Peary in 1919, ten years after their successful expedition, the bulk of the play is told in flashback as Peary’s own nightmare.
And this Peary dreams in strenuous metaphors. He revisits his past with a child actor–size manifestation of his desire, observes unseen as his wife and Henson talk about how difficult he is in the present, and frolics with a naked ice nymph who says she is The Future. The whole thing starts to feel like An Explorer’s Christmas Carol with Peary as Scrooge and Henson as Bob Cratchit.
Arcenas’s production is well staged (on a gorgeous, shiver-inducing ice cavern set designed by the director). Neumann and Fleming as Peary and Henson, respectively, establish a believable rapport and rivalry. But there’s still a sneaking sense that Henson is a supporting character in his own story; though Brown weaves the facts of Henson’s life in with all the mystical, metaphorical muck, Peary is still the center of attention. Brown spends all his time exploring the recesses of Peary’s mind but doesn’t give us much insight into Henson’s inner life. The man given short shrift by history is overshadowed by Peary again.
