BWW Reviews: GOD'S EAR: Cries and Whispers

God's Ear

Written by Jenny Schwartz, Directed by Thomas Derrah; Scenic Designer, Cristina Todesco; Lighting Designer, Jeff Adelberg; Costume Designer, Gail Astrid Buckley; Composer/Sound Designer, Edward Young; Properties Master, Rae Morales; Stage Manager, Katie Ailinger; Production Manager, Deb Sullivan

CAST (in order of appearance): Tamara Hickey, Gabriel Kuttner, Josephine Elwood, Ann Carpenter, Marianna Bassham, John Kuntz, Dave Rich

Performances through April 12 by Actors' Shakespeare Project at The Davis Square Theatre, 255 Elm Street, Somerville, MA; Box Office 866-811-4111 or www.actorsshakespeareproject.org

God's Ear has an abundance of words for a one-act play that only runs about ninety minutes. However, it is not merely the number of words, but the unique quality of language as practiced by playwright Jenny Schwartz that is truly the hallmark of the drama receiving its first Boston area production by Actors' Shakespeare Project at the Davis Square Theatre in Somerville. Equally remarkable is the humor and hope that rise to the surface from the depths of a family's suffering following an unimaginable loss.

Mel (Tamara Hickey) and Ted (Gabriel Kuttner) are a married couple whose young son has just died in a swimming accident. Caught in a tsunami of grief, their desperation propels them on separate currents and they have all they can do to survive individually, let alone to safeguard their relationship. Their six-year old daughter Lanie (Josephine Elwood) is both a reminder of what they've lost and a beacon to guide them through the fog. They get help along the way with words and songs of wisdom from the Tooth Fairy (Ann Carpenter) and some counseling from a life-size GI Joe action figure (John Kuntz), but Schwartz sends them down a circuitous path strewn with rhymes, clichés, and Helen Keller jokes, all of which are inadequate to express their feelings.

While Mel seeks comfort in words and her daughter's company, Ted spends time on the road for business and seeks comfort with Lenora (an almost unrecognizable Marianna Bassham), a boozy lounge singer, and Guy (Dave Rich), a drinking buddy. He also has encounters with a gun-toting, cross-dressing flight attendant (also played by Kuntz) who gives emphasis to Ted's estrangement from reality. Echoing their son's demise, they are metaphorically drowning with no lifeline in sight. Although they manifest it differently, both parents are in extreme pain and we can see it in Hickey's and Kuttner's every expression and action. Elwood's performance is touching, balancing the innocence of childhood with a level of maturity that comes from knowing something painful at too young an age.

The supporting cast members bring music and much of the comic relief to the table. When Bassham first appears, setting up an amplifier with microphone in hand, she wears a slinky red sheath and is disguised with a wig. This appears to be an example of clothes making the (wo)man as she slips on Lenora's persona and has a field day. Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, and aviator glasses, Rich becomes the glad-handing bar buddy who shares easy conversation with Ted about their wives. Gail Astrid Buckley's pièce de résistance in the costume department is the fairy outfit, wings and all, and she manages to make Kuntz appear authoritative in a nauseatingly-green uniform as the flight attendant and in camouflage as GI Joe.

Under the direction of Thomas Derrah, the actors deliver the complex dialogue with musicality, capturing the rhythms and rhymes, irony and absurdity, humor and pathos. Cristina Todesco's set is all white, covered with plastic sheeting, and Jeff Adelberg employs a kaleidoscope of lighting cues to imply fantasy and reality. Haunting music and sound design are by Edward Young. Perhaps owing to his own lengthy resumé as an actor, Derrah crafts God's Ear into an ensemble piece where he expands the central story to include the side characters as vital components, real or imagined. It is not an easy play to describe, but it is well worth your time to see it for yourself, especially in the hands of Actors' Shakespeare Project. After all, they do have some experience with putting on plays by a master wordsmith.

Photo credit: Stratton McCrady Photography (Ann Carpenter, Gabriel Kuttner, Tamara Hickey, Josephine Elwood, John Kuntz)

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