'Blackbird ' Takes Off With Flying Colors

Blackbird

By David Harrower

David R. Gammons, Director; Eric Levenson, Scenic Design; Gail Astrid Buckley, Costume Design; Jeff Adelberg, Lighting Design; Cameron Willard, Sound Design; Christine Lomaka, Production Stage Manager

CAST: Marianna Bassham (Una), Bates Wilder (Ray)

Performances through March 21 at SpeakEasy Stage Company, Boston Center for the Arts

Box Office 617-933-8600 or www.BostonTheatreScene.com

If you were to combine the tension and suspense of Wait Until Dark, the raw sexual energy of A Streetcar Named Desire, and the ick-factor of Edward Albee's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? the result could well be David Harrower's Blackbird. Having said that, let me clarify that the plot bears no resemblance to any of those venerable works, but this is one of those plays about which the reviewer is loathe to share too many details for fear of spoiling its dramatic effect. Besides, the press kit said to keep the secret. So, I will not spill any details that ought to remain undisclosed, but I wish to broadcast loud and clear that Blackbird is a thriller with tour de force performances by Marianna Bassham and Bates Wilder, both in their SpeakEasy Stage debuts.

Once again, Director David R. Gammons has taken on a challenging assignment (Titus Andronicus, My Name is Rachel Corrie, The Lieutenant of Inishmore) and he wrings every drop of angst from Harrower's script, pouring it through the two vessels onstage with painstaking precision and timing. Each line of dialogue is delivered with a rhythmic arrhythmia, or whispered or shouted, one actor often speaking over the other, as designed by the playwright; facial expressions of incredulity and nonverbal representations of frustration abound as the characters square off in a disagreeable dyad.

Almost before the audience is settled in, the play begins organically with Bassham and Wilder hurrying onto the brightly lit set, a nondescript yet severely littered employee break room furnished only with two plastic chairs, a pair of lockers, and an overflowing waste receptacle. The harsh fluorescent lighting suggests an interrogation area, while the trash strewn about reflects a total disregard for order or civility. A breathless Ray (Wilder), visibly uncomfortable, and annoyingly inquisitive Una (Bassham) verbally spar, jockeying for control of the situation. Within moments, we come to understand that they were involved in an illicit, inappropriate relationship fifteen years earlier when Una was underage. While her appearance is unexpected and unwelcome, she is a woman on a mission and undeterred by Ray's reaction. And so begins their power struggle, a psychological tug of war executed over 90 minutes, of necessity without intermission in order to sustain the building tension of the narrative.

Harrower is to be praised for skillfully drawing these two damaged characters with suitable emotional baggage, but Bassham and Wilder make them leap from the page to the stage with authenticity and aplomb. Ray is the latest in a series of complex roles chosen by the latter in the last couple of years, most notably the serial killer in Frozen at New Repertory Theatre. This part calls for him to be charming, smarmy, apologetic, bullying, powerless, clueless, and more, and Wilder has the ability to evoke sympathy for the devil, even as he makes us squirm in our seats. Bassham is a revelation as Una, running the gamut from prosecutor to victim, vixen to ice princess, and cowering child to defiant adult. The air between them crackles with electricity, at the same time as it feels as though they are sucking the air out of the room. They create a suffocating, closed-in vacuum of time and space where nothing exists except their purgatory and there can be no future until their sins have been thoroughly examined. The raw emotion and vitriol are so perceptible you can feel it in your neck and shoulders as you brace for whatever may happen. Although it is clear that something is going to happen, the final twist comes as a total surprise.

There is so much I'd like to say, yet so little that I can say without giving away important plot points. If I follow Harrower's example, an economy of language may better communicate the bleak, no place to hide mood of the play and how emphatically the lighting and set design illustrate it. The simple act of having the lights on at the start and the end further exposes the audience to the uncomfortable reality of this scenario, while the pervasive litter serves as a constant metaphor for the damaged lives of these two people. An oblong frosted window on the upstage wall hints at their feelings of paranoia, that the world is always watching them. Director Gammons displays his gift for the dark and controversial subjects with this seamless production and I predict a slew of IRNE nominations for cast, director, and design team alike. They leave the audience stunned, listening to the lilting music of The Beatles.

 

Blackbird singing in the dead of night

Take these broken wings and learn to fly

All your life

You were only waiting for this moment to arise

 

 

 

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