Kelley's adaptation begins with the murder of Mary which avoids preparing us for the limited life of opportunity that Bigger leads in the Black Belt of Chicago and making him less sympathetic as a victim of racism. Told in a fragmentary form often with flashbacks within flashbacks, it is only possible to put the chronology together if one knows the novel. Kelley has also eliminated the powerful speech to the jury by …
SOURCE: www.theaterscene.net at 01:45PM on August 9, 2019