BWW Reviews: SLOW FALLING BIRD at Georgetown University Reflects on History and Tragedy

At the end of a season of "origins and migrations" the Georgetown University Theater and Performance Studies Program transports audiences to late 1990's Australia, where a diverse cast of characters struggles with loss, upheaval, and interminable drought in Slow Falling Bird. The play highlights the tragedies and traumas of the Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, which was infamous for riots by immigrants and human rights abuses by guards. Acclaimed playwright Christine Evans, currently a Georgetown professor, wrote Slow Falling Bird in response to this tragic history, and along with Director Rosalba Clemente she brings it to life in the play's area premiere.

The often-abstract play follows Woomera guards Micko and Rick, inmates Leyla, Zahrah, and Mahmoud, and Rick's suffering wife Joy. Fast-talking crows Mortein and Baygon follow the action hungrily while the fetal Fish Child lies on a platform above it all, anchoring the characters' collective struggle. Evans' play mixes harsh realism with cloudy hallucinations to create the jarring desert atmosphere. Though separated by language and social class, the characters slowly begin to interact and share in-or contribute to-each other's pain.

Each of the nine student actors in Georgetown's Slow Falling Bird gives a distinctive performance. Isáyah Phillips is striking as Micko, the play's perturbed moral center. As his coarse foil Rick, Caleb Lewis shifts seamlessly into his character's rapidly changing moods, transitioning from drunken singing to tense aggression to quiet compassion in minutes. Alexandra Waldon takes advantage of her time onstage as Joy, making her song a memorable highlight in an overall powerful performance, and Sarah Frasco and Ben Prout provide commentary and dark comic relief as Baygon and Mortein.

Onstage, a thin metal structure, crowned in barbed wire, forms the believable but unobtrusive setting of the Woomera Centre. Behind it, a changing screen represents the stormy Australian skies. The play revolves around noise, and along with the terrified shouts and long silences of the script, the production utilizes various songs and sound effects. The costumes are authentically diverse, from the prisoners' tattered dresses to the guards' neat uniforms and weapons. The multi-layered bird costumes are especially interesting, allowing the characters to be fully animal in some scenes and effectively human in others.

Although the second act is largely heartbreaking, the play takes a while to fully gain momentum. Long scenes with little movement distract from plot events, and many of the characters are relatively unclear until the end of the first act. Additionally, the production suffers from a few avoidable mistakes-a character reading from a clearly empty clipboard, unrealistic fumbling with a prop baby, and lighting that occasionally obscures performers' faces. Ironically, at times the performance is almost too serious, straddling the line between sober drama and excessive theatrics. Even so, each actor shines in their own climactic scene, and the overall effect of the production is appropriately haunting.

The DC regional premiere of Christine Evans' Slow Falling Bird is characterized by brave choices and emotional performances. The student actors give their all to this complex play and guide the audience through the many conflicts it tackles. A bold and important interpretation of tragic historical events, the Georgetown University Theater and Performance Studies Program's production of Slow Falling Bird plays March 26-April 11, 2015,at the Davis Performing Arts Center's Gonda Theatre.

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