Review: SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS at Ringwald Theatre is a Delightfully Unconventional Exploration of the Need to Connect

As part of The Ringwald Theatre's comeback season, Small Mouth Sounds is a delightfully unconventional play that you can catch until March 14th. After two off-Broadway productions in 2015 and 2016 respectively, Small Mouth Sounds embarked on a national tour in 2017. Originally written by Bess Wohl, this dramedy is a fascinating look into the sheer human existence of six individuals on a silent retreat. By the 90-minute mark, each of these characters has grown emotionally in ways you wouldn't have imagined from the first half of the play.

Small Mouth Sounds at The Ringwald Theatre stars Joel Mitchel, Rashna "Rashi" Sarwar, Jeffrey McMahon, Suzan M. Jacokes, Melissa Beckwith, Jeremy St. Martin, and Phoenix Eldridge. This production was directed by Joe Bailey with additional directing by Gretchen Schock. Further credits can be found on Ringwald's website.

During the course of the show, much of the story is conveyed through gesturing, mouthing words and making strange noises. The moments of dialogue interspersed throughout the play are performed remarkably well, especially two specific monologues by St. Martin and Jacokes. These moments, and the show as a whole, are made even more powerful because of the tight knit, in-the-round seating at The Ringwald Theatre in Affirmations LGBTQ+ Community Center.

While this production is rather minimalistic in its set design (by Stephen Carpenter), it works in the favor of the show as an art piece. With the help of the nonverbal actions of the actors as well as the lighting and sound design (by Brandy Joe Plambeck and Asia Hicks respectively), you'll find yourself picturing the scenery of the woods, cabin, and beach. You can tell that the crew who put this show together worked in harmony with one another - every element fits together like a puzzle. It's not thrown together like a collage, and that's what makes this production special.

One particularly remarkable aspect of Small Mouth Sounds is how much you're able to understand what the actors are saying without them saying a word.

For example, throughout the story, you can see how McMahon's Rodney becomes increasingly frustrated as people mockingly utilize his namaste pose when they know they've done something to upset him. At first he's calm, but soon enough you can see the anger flash across his face a little more every time it happens.

Another such instance is when Sarwar's Alicia jumps and yelps every time someone comes up behind her and touches her shoulder. This doesn't seem to be super out of the ordinary at the beginning, but you steadily come to realize that this response is likely due to some kind of trauma in her life.

There's also the side plot of Beckwith's Judy and Mitchell's Jan becoming friends throughout the course of the show. Jan doesn't talk at all until the end of the story, but through their scenes you really believe that they've developed a bond over the course of their time at the retreat.

We don't know a lot about most of these characters, but what we're able to glean from their nonverbal cues, as well as their occasional words, really makes this show unique.

And all for this isn't to say that the verbal cuts aren't impactful. Phoenix Eldridge's disembodied voice of the narrator/teacher goes through an emotional journey of their own. Much of this emotion is conveyed via Eldridge's mannerisms, and unlike the actors on stage, all of Eldridge's emotions have to be palpable by way of voice, and not actions. They did a phenomenal job pulling this character off.

Small Mouth Sounds at Ringwald is one of those unusual shows you don't get to see all that often. It's one of those productions you need to experience at least once or twice in order to fully understand the magnitude of how this silent retreat changes the characters, each one more different from the last. And yet, despite their differences, when the characters hold hands at the end of the play, you truly believe they've connected with each other and with themselves. It's a story and a message that will entertain just as much as it will make you think about finding yourself.

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Small Mouth Sounds is playing at Ringwald Theatre (inside Affirmations LGBTQ+ Community Center in Ferndale) until March 14th. For more information and tickets to the show, visit theRingwald.com.

Connect with Ringwald on Instagram at @theringwald and on Facebook at facebook.com/TheRingwald.

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