BWW Reviews: THE FALL TO EARTH from GroundWorks Theatre

Joel Drake Johnson's The Fall to Earth is an atypical, darkly comic - yet at the same time very serious - take on the conventional mother/daughter tale. Now presented in an exceptional new production from Nashville's GroundWorks Theatre, The Fall to Earth stars an extraordinary trio of actresses who bring the disquieting story to life with a sense of camaraderie and trust, delivering as they do a truly compelling experience for theater-goers.

Director Sean O'Connell, after far too long an absence, returns to the director's chair to helm The Fall to Earth with her unerring eye for what works and the uncanny ability to draw from her actors what even they might find unexpected. The result is a completely riveting play that will linger in your psyche for days to come. Amid the laughter - and there are a lot of laughs to be had, for certain - you may find yourself horrified by certain parts of the story, yet like the most terrible traffic accident you pass on the expressway, you'll be unable to look away for even a second. So mesmerizing are the performances and so sharply written is The Fall to Earth that you cannot imagine, even for that short time, not being fully engaged in the action taking place onstage before you.

Johnson's script, incisive and biting and filled with believable dialogue, was first presented by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre in 2006 and it was there that O'Connell and her husband/artistic collaborator/partner Robert A. O'Connell first saw the play and determined it would be produced by GroundWorks, continuing in the company's tradition of presenting Nashville and regional premieres of new and compelling works for the theater. Interestingly, that first Steppenwolf production was designed by Jack Magaw, the much-heralded Chicago theatrical designer who is a Tennessee native and a former professor of theater design at Vanderbilt University. His involvement in that initial production, coupled with the O'Connells' championing of the script, made the GroundWorks staging of the work a foregone conclusion.

In the play, Johnson introduces us to Fay and Rachel, a mother/daughter pair in the classic theatrical sense: they are constantly at odds with each other, unable to bridge the chasm that separates their world (and which remains unexplained until the final, ravaging moments of the play) and behaving like strangers when together.

Fay (played with a maternal ferocity by the luminous Wesley Paine) first appears to be a small-town rube of sorts, marveling at the wonder of the huge motel room in which they are staying in Eureka, Oregon, waxing eloquent about the business class flight the two have just disembarked from and wondering aloud why her daughter has a cell phone that, seemingly, has unlimited long distance that is never used for calling home. Rachel, the quintessential portrait of the rebellious and diffident daughter (Megan Murphy Chambers in a performance that is spell-binding in its range and beauty), is a successful though divorced businesswoman and mother of a young son, who has little if any relationship with his grandparents.

The two women have come to Eureka with the unenviable and somewhat grisly task of identifying the body of Kenny, Fay's son and Rachel's younger brother, who committed suicide after a lifetime of failure and promise unrealized. As the pair's interactions betray their estrangement, Fay and Rachel gradually unveil the nature of Kenny's life and ultimate demise while slowing revealing the realities of their shared existences to results that are nothing short of horrifying.

While in Eureka, they meet with a well-meaning police officer named Terry (played with conviction and complete confidence by Heather Webber ) who illuminates the story, relaying heretofore unknown specifics of Kenny's life to Fay and Rachel. In doing so, Terry unleashes a flood of emotions that very nearly consumes all three of the women, each in her own rather surprising way.

O'Connell's three actresses deliver superb performances, creating portrayals of the three fictional characters that are completely genuine and altogether involving. Paine is given the opportunity to show off her training and control in a stunning performance that is at once frightening and somehow soothing. Chambers - clearly one of the most capable actresses you can ever hope to see - gives a performance that rivets your attention, one that is totally free of stagey artifice yet is compellingly theatrical. Webber (a new face to me) is refreshing and sentimental in a way, while retaining her character's strict code of conduct that allows her to display her open-hearted emotions in a tactful manner.

O'Connell's set design perfectly transforms the intimate Darkhorse stage into a typical, middle-class motel room and police department office. Lighting design, by Katie Gant and Paul Cook captures the tone of the piece, effectively framing the onstage actions.

- The Fall To Earth. By Joel Drake Johnson. Directed by A. Sean O'Connell. Presented by GroundWorks Theatre at Darkhorse Theater, Nashville. Through May 14. For details, visit the company website at www.groundworkstheatre.com.

 

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