The Front Room

There’s no arguing with zealotry. No rationalizing with fanaticism. No debating superstitions. The Front Room is about how, in America, some Christian extremists think they know what’s best for everyone else, and telling them “No thanks” doesn’t work. The story involves one such fundamentalist who moves in with her stepson and his pregnant wife. Steeped in the “signs and wonders” of the Holy Spirit, she embeds herself in the family like a parasite, feeding on their energy and attempting to replace it with her own. A proud member of the “United Daughters of the Confederacy” who makes no apologies for her heritage in Southern racism, Solange is played by Kathryn Hunter in a vivid performance. Her body appears withered and frail, but she stomps with a cane in each hand as she walks, her movements resembling a contorted spider. Her gruff voice is loud and commanding, and she speaks with an authority that others yield to and admire. But for the non-believers who welcome Solange into their home, she’s a corruptive and hostile evangelical presence in their otherwise secular domestic sanctuary.

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