Review: THE KIND ONES at Magic Theatre Explores the Legacy of Domestic Violence in This Darkly Comic Thriller

Miranda Rose Hall certainly is one gutsy writer! In her new play The Kind Ones now in its world premiere production at Magic Theatre, she has created characters and settings unlike anything I've ever seen onstage before and then wrapped them in a narrative that raises big questions about the cycle of domestic violence as her characters' lives spin out of control. Its swift 75 minutes play out like a combination gothic thriller and Greek tragedy. Oh, and did I mention that it's also pretty darned funny?

It would be nigh on impossible to describe the plot of The Kind Ones without revealing some significant spoilers, so let me just say it is a play about what happens when two strangers meet on a pig farm in rural Montana. Nellie is an older cisgender woman who has been doggedly rebuilding her life after getting released from prison for the murder of her abusive husband. Fritz is a young trans man who unexpectedly shows up on Nellie's doorstep needing assistance of a very specific kind that I cannot get into here.

While much of the action takes place in Nellie's kitchen, this is anything but a navel-gazing, kitchen-sink drama. No, Hall has much bigger things on her mind, like what justice for domestic abusers would look like, whether or not justice is even a valid concept in a culture whose very roots are bound in a history of violence, and if it's possible for a person to assist the victims in retribution without becoming as culpable as their abusers. I'm not sure if all of this works - the play goes to some pretty extreme places, and there is a secret revealed toward the end that feels a little too pat even as it echoes Greek tragedy - but it certainly is a wild ride. It helps that Hall's characters are finely drawn, with the plainspoken cadences of lifelong Montanan Nellie nicely contrasted by the more urban contemporaneity of the 30-ish Fritz.

This is the kind of play that presents some fascinating staging challenges for both director and actors, as it involves some physical actions that we don't normally see depicted in the theater. While Lisa Peterson's unfussy direction keeps the focus on the script, I wish that she had given the early, quieter scenes a little more time to breathe. Also, the staging of some key scenes toward the climax of the play struck me as an unsatisfying compromise between stylization and realism. They might have been more effective if she'd just opted for one of those approaches and stuck with it.

Anne Darragh is terrific as taciturn Nellie, totally believable as the kind of rural loner who considers canned peaches to be health food. It is a pleasure to see this veteran actor, whose career goes all the way back to creating the character of Harper Pitt in the world premiere of Angels in America at the Eureka Theater, portray a very different dyed-in-the-wool American heroine of sorts. Kian J. Johnson as Fritz has perhaps a harder task as his character makes some decisions late in the play that are questionable at best. Johnson registers nicely in the initial scenes with an ingratiating boyishness, but I felt he struggled a bit when required to plumb some treacherous emotional depths once his relationship with Nellie becomes more fraught.

The design work was quite strong, as per usual with Magic. Scenic designer Tanya Orellana tells us everything we need to know about Nellie's isolation, with her spartan cabin stacked with canned goods and backed by a widescreen panorama of clouds. (Big Sky country, indeed!) Russell Champa's atmospheric lighting finds an infinite number of ways, some gorgeous and some menacing, to illuminate that backdrop. As Fritz says at one point, "I've never been in a place like this. It feels like it could kill you or save you, and you're never quite sure which." An-Lin Dauber's costumes are understated and appropriate to the characters and the rural landscape.

Finally, I just need to say what a pleasure it was to be back in the audience at Magic, experiencing a beautifully-mounted production of a challenging and entertaining new play that illuminates our contemporary world, which is exactly what Magic has been doing so well for some 55 years now. Based on the evidence of The Kind Ones, it appears Magic has survived the pandemic with its mission and creative drive well intact.

(All photos by Jay Yamada)

The Kind Ones runs through Sunday, February 20th at Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Bldg. D, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94123. Running time is approximately 75 minutes with no intermission. Tickets and further information available at MagicTheatre.org.

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