Review
Blackbird
Manhattan Theatre Club
May 26, 2007
Morgan Wycks
mwycks@nyconstage.org
Child molestation is certainly not the easiest topic to tackle in any form.
David Harrow's play, Blackbird, evades the obvious taboo by bringing to
the stage such a situation 15 years after the fact. The inflicted crime's
subsequent pain years later for both the criminal and the victim seems more to
his point, much like the stories we've heard concerning the Catholic Church of
late. The operative word is 'seems' for there is something else on Mr. Harrow's
agenda. Unfortunately I didn't buy much of it despite a well-produced
production.
With a new name, a new location and a new life, middle-aged Ray (Jeff Daniels)
is suddenly confronted by the one person he hoped to avoid for the rest of his
life, Una (Alison Pill), a 27 year-old woman with whom he had a sexual
relationship when she was twelve. Discovering him in a journal's company
photograph, Una tracks down Ray at his office late one day for the purpose of
punishing him despite the punishment he has already suffered in prison. What
follows is a contrived manipulation on the part of Mr. Harrow that becomes a
trial for the audience more so than the characters. Using that irritating
stop-start, stuttering and staccato dialogue a la David Mamet, Mr. Harrow
immediately frustrates us with endless exposition that is supposed to make us
feel the threats, fears, and damage of these two characters. When we finally get
to the past's one fateful excursion, on cue each character gets their 'audition'
monologue. There are a number of surprises not the least of which is a power
failure in the office building leaving the vulnerable Una alone in the dark
except for the light of a vending machine. From that point on the revelations
come fast and furious which I will not divulge.
On Scott Pask's perfectly realized characterless office lounge - its maze of
cubicles not seen but certainly felt, Paul Gallo's overhead fluorescent
tube-lighting never allows the characters to escape a harsh, accusing glare. But
even the mess of food, containers, and wrappers left behind by employees loses
its symbolism when Una says something to the effect that people "can't clean up
after themselves". The skeletal Ms. Pill wears her wounds on her sleeve - her
big monologue a drone of angry self-pity. She becomes difficult to watch for the
wrong reasons. Mr. Daniels also plays into the obvious but with more success. He
certainly gets better as the play progresses and manifestly conveys the ache of
a man hollowed out by demons. Had director Joe Mantello let his actors play more
against the material than into it, the results would probably have been much
more alarming. But even his staging, especially with the monologues, tries to
cheaply sell something pre-sold.
The sexual abuse of children is something that will be addressed again and again
but one of Mr. Harrow's points about non-exploitation feels very exploitive.
...end
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