Review: Luminous Production of FIREFLIES Opens Good Theater Season

The Good Theater opens its 21st season with a luminous production of Matthew Barber’s poignant 2017 play about the flickers of late-life romance, expertly directed by Brian P. Allen, starring Valerie Perri in a nuanced, delicate and incandescent performance.

FIREFLIES, as the title and central metaphor suggest, draws a subtle portrait of the sparks that simmer repressed in a lonely woman’s soul, only to be kindled by the attentions of an erratic, but appealing drifter who comes into her life and enables her to shake off decades of claustrophobic expectations.   Barber draws his four characters with great insight and empathy, and though the ending may be fated from the start, keeps the audience guessing as to the directions the principal pair will choose.  His dialogue is wry, laced with a warm wit and tender pathos, and he manages to infuse every moment of the week-long action with palpable emotion.

Allen directs brilliantly, suggesting the stifling confines of the heroine’s life in a small Texas town, while finding enough visual and kinetic variety to keep the audience’s interest.  He draws sensitive, authentic performances from the cast and creates an air of delicate, restrained tension and expectancy that defines the power of the play.

The physical production realistically suggests the confines of a small, cozy, slightly shabby Groverdell house in 1995.  Steve Underwood’s set design (Heather Irish, props) in warm earth colors with thrift shop furniture perfectly sets the tone for the quiet banality of Eleanor Bannister’s life. Iain Odlin’s lighting adds the sense of the Texas heat and sun, while Kathleen Kimball’s costumes amplify the feeling of small-town simplicity. Steve Underwood’s sound design is subtle and provides  appropriate country music for the transitions. Technical Director Craig Robinson and Stage Manager Michael Lynch capably anchor the production.

The four performers coalesce into a stellar ensemble.  Valerie Perri is perfect as the retired and lonely schoolteacher, Eleanor Bannister.  Perri gives an achingly delicate, restrained, beautifully nuanced performance that shimmers with dignity and longing.  As the seductive drifter Abel Brown, Whip Hubley projects a winning insouciance that makes the others wary, but his pervasive gentleness and often disarming honesty prove irresistible.  Grace Bauer makes a warm, funny, quirky and sometimes maddeningly irritating neighbor and best friend, Grace Bodell. Dalton Kimball, as the somewhat dim Sheriff, Eugene Claymire, makes the most of his short scenes, imparting to Eleanor a redeeming view of her life as a teacher and a different perspective on her current self.

FIREFLIES is a beautiful little play, sparkling with tenderness, hope, and – yes, love.  Just as the insects engage in their mating dance in the Texas summer heat, so, too, do Eleanor and Abel grasp at the glimmers of warmth and happiness.  Transient as these effervescent moments are, capturing them makes all the difference.

Photos courtesy of Good Theater, Steve Underwood, photographer

FIREFLIES runs from October 11-29,2023 at the Good theater, 78 Congress Street, Portland, ME   207-835-0895  boxoffice@goodtheater.com