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‘Blackbird’ is gutsy theater
Reviewed by: FRAN HELLER Contributing Writer
What I like about The Bang and the Clatter Theatre Company (BNC), the newest kid on Cleveland’s theatrical block, is its gutsy approach.
For starters, consider its location. A spanking-new storefront theater in the heart of dismal downtown Cleveland, where, after working hours, the only local denizens, absent a sporting event, seem to be panhandlers and drug addicts.
Next, consider BNC’s selection of plays: raw and hard-hitting like “Fat Pig,” about body image in American culture; “Frozen,” about a psychopathic serial child killer; and “Bug,” about terrorism and the CIA, all of which were presented at its Akron venue.
The work of Adam Rapp, a prolific 30-something playwright and novelist and a favorite of BNC co-founders Sean Derry and Sean McConaha, “Blackbird” fits their nervy and iconoclastic mold.
Rapp’s 2004 play is the story of two young drifters lost in America and living on the margin of existence, but barely. It’s at BNC through June 14. In the Cleveland production of “Blackbird,” Alanna Romansky and Sean Derry reprise their critically acclaimed roles from the company’s debut Akron production in 2006.
“Blackbird” is not for the squeamish. Rapp’s subjects include incontinence, impotence, intimations of domestic violence, drug and alcohol addiction, and incest. But beneath the shock and sleaze is a heartbreaking love story of two rejects whose only acceptance can be found in each other.
A volatile Derry is hypnotic as Baylis, an angry young man in his early 30s. He is a Gulf War veteran and damaged goods (he took germ gas in Iraq) who is impotent, incontinent, and in constant pain from a slipped disc. Froggy is a 19-year-old runaway and drug addict who moves in with Baylis. The two met when Froggy was working at a striptease club.
As Froggy, Romansky is a coquettish mix of vulgar sexuality and childlike neediness. She clings to a stuffed dog while baiting Baylis about his inability to make a baby and his other infirmities.
Baylis wants his young stowaway, who has a serious case of hepatitis, to return to her affluent Detroit suburban home so that her parents can take care of her. But for reasons that become shockingly apparent in the play, she refuses to go. As the two navigate the sorry state of their miserable lives, what becomes apparent is how deeply they care for one another.
A life-size maze at the entrance to the theater creates a psychological mind game that sets the stage for what the audience is about to see. Sean McConaha’s taut direction in the intimate theater space keeps the viewer hooked, like watching a tennis match.
The language is crude but also strangely poetical at times; Froggy imagines herself as snow or as the blackbird that keeps pecking at their broken window. There is also beauty in the way Baylis limps around their Canal Street dump (Derry’s set design is sufficiently squalid), trying to nurse Froggy. This odd couple’s dance of despair is painful to watch. Such authentic performances may invite our antipathy, but also our compassion.
Indeed, these lowlife characters are far removed from my own life experience; an audience in their 20s and 30s, the targeted audience at BNC, removed me even further. Yet, such is the power of this bulldozing production, that I found myself choked up and tearful at the play’s end.
WHAT: “Blackbird”
WHERE: The Bang and the Clatter Sometimes in the Silence Theatre Company, 224 Euclid Ave., near E. 4th St. and Public Square
WHEN: To June 14
TICKETS and INFO: 330-606-5317 or BNCTheatre.com
For mature audiences: strong language and adult themes.
What I like about The Bang and the Clatter Theatre Company (BNC), the newest kid on Cleveland’s theatrical block, is its gutsy approach.
For starters, consider its location. A spanking-new storefront theater in the heart of dismal downtown Cleveland, where, after working hours, the only local denizens, absent a sporting event, seem to be panhandlers and drug addicts.
Next, consider BNC’s selection of plays: raw and hard-hitting like “Fat Pig,” about body image in American culture; “Frozen,” about a psychopathic serial child killer; and “Bug,” about terrorism and the CIA, all of which were presented at its Akron venue.
The work of Adam Rapp, a prolific 30-something playwright and novelist and a favorite of BNC co-founders Sean Derry and Sean McConaha, “Blackbird” fits their nervy and iconoclastic mold.
Rapp’s 2004 play is the story of two young drifters lost in America and living on the margin of existence, but barely. It’s at BNC through June 14. In the Cleveland production of “Blackbird,” Alanna Romansky and Sean Derry reprise their critically acclaimed roles from the company’s debut Akron production in 2006.
“Blackbird” is not for the squeamish. Rapp’s subjects include incontinence, impotence, intimations of domestic violence, drug and alcohol addiction, and incest. But beneath the shock and sleaze is a heartbreaking love story of two rejects whose only acceptance can be found in each other.
A volatile Derry is hypnotic as Baylis, an angry young man in his early 30s. He is a Gulf War veteran and damaged goods (he took germ gas in Iraq) who is impotent, incontinent, and in constant pain from a slipped disc. Froggy is a 19-year-old runaway and drug addict who moves in with Baylis. The two met when Froggy was working at a striptease club.
As Froggy, Romansky is a coquettish mix of vulgar sexuality and childlike neediness. She clings to a stuffed dog while baiting Baylis about his inability to make a baby and his other infirmities.
Baylis wants his young stowaway, who has a serious case of hepatitis, to return to her affluent Detroit suburban home so that her parents can take care of her. But for reasons that become shockingly apparent in the play, she refuses to go. As the two navigate the sorry state of their miserable lives, what becomes apparent is how deeply they care for one another.
A life-size maze at the entrance to the theater creates a psychological mind game that sets the stage for what the audience is about to see. Sean McConaha’s taut direction in the intimate theater space keeps the viewer hooked, like watching a tennis match.
The language is crude but also strangely poetical at times; Froggy imagines herself as snow or as the blackbird that keeps pecking at their broken window. There is also beauty in the way Baylis limps around their Canal Street dump (Derry’s set design is sufficiently squalid), trying to nurse Froggy. This odd couple’s dance of despair is painful to watch. Such authentic performances may invite our antipathy, but also our compassion.
Indeed, these lowlife characters are far removed from my own life experience; an audience in their 20s and 30s, the targeted audience at BNC, removed me even further. Yet, such is the power of this bulldozing production, that I found myself choked up and tearful at the play’s end.
WHAT: “Blackbird”
WHERE: The Bang and the Clatter Sometimes in the Silence Theatre Company, 224 Euclid Ave., near E. 4th St. and Public Square
WHEN: To June 14
TICKETS and INFO: 330-606-5317 or BNCTheatre.com
For mature audiences: strong language and adult themes.
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