By Genesis Eve Garcia
The best way I can describe the experience of viewing My Brother Was A Vampire, produced by Plan-B Theatre at Salt Lake City’s Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center is this: Have you ever found yourself experiencing a moment and thought to yourself, “Right now, this weird moment is happening; in just a few minutes, this will be a memory, but right now, I’m in it. This is really happening.” Just me? Drat.
I always love watching a show at Plan B Theatre. Artistic Director Jerry Rapier has created a creative space not unlike the tardis on Doctor Who. The physical space is small, but the experience is always larger than you could possibly have imagined. Located in the heart of Salt Lake City, parking is always easy to find, and Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center is surrounded by delicious pubs and eateries. As I walked into the building, I was greeted with smiles and warmth. I brought my own mask, but they generously offered me a new KN95 mask. My face felt like it was wrapped in a warm hug. I settled in on the front row, among just a few chairs. I felt a shiver come over me as I looked out across the space.
Plan B Theatre is known for producing new works. My Brother Was a Vampire is written by Scottish native and Utah resident Morag Shepherd. She has a reputation for writing thought-provoking stories, and Plan B previously produced Shepherd’s plays Not One Drop and Flora Meets a Bee. Because this is a new play, I had no idea what to expect. I avoided reading the program because I wanted to experience the show without any warning. I apologize that in reading this review, you will not be afforded the same experience, but I will do my best to add to your experience with my observations.
Emma Eugenia Belnap’s lighting design is unobtrusive and serves to direct the story and focus. The lights descends so slowly, it felt like I was falling into a dream. Janice Chan’s scenic design is simple, utilitarian, and indecipherable. The set gives zero clues as to what you might experience during the play’s 60-minute journey. No one gives any clue about what you might experience. As a result, I found myself hanging on to every word said by actors Sydney Shoell (Skye) and Benjamin Young (Callum).
One spring, I experienced Waiting for Godot at the Old Vic (London), and a created theatrical tour experience of sorts, where audiences walked through a house, touching, feeling, watching, hearing, and living through a created dreamlike event. My Brother Was a Vampire felt like a combination of both those events. I was watching a play, but also breathing in a dream. But it was someone else’s dream. I am so used to being acknowledged in some shape or form as an audience member. Somehow, the dialogue gives the viewer some sort of exposition or explanation that politely brings the audience along on the journey. My Brother Was a Vampire gives audiences no frame of reference. But, unlike Waiting For Godot, where I have years of historical reviews that give me insight on what the characters’ story might symbolize, this is a brand new play. The symbolism, allusions, and subliminal references are all mine to discover.
The characters fly, but they don’t travel. They simply fly. I thought about how my own brother died of a heroin overdose and wondered if the flying in My Brother was a Vampire was referencing drugs. At one point, we’re in the hospital. Is this really a mental hospital? Is Skye really even there? Is Callum a memory? My mind flew back and forth, darting over the history that unfolds as each scene emerges. I realized that each scene makes no reference to the past, because each scene takes place five years previous to the scene we just saw. Because of the backwards presentation of time, the play avoids commenting on itself. There is no way to add onto the wisdom gleaned in previous meetings, because the characters we are seeing haven’t yet learned from the previous scene’s discussions. In this way, the entire play is fully present. The only people mulling over the past and future events are the audience members. In this way, each moment is filled with immediacy. Is this moment, is this the most important part of the play? If so, why? How does this experience compare with future experiences? I don’t know. The not-knowing is as riveting as if we were experiencing our own moments of presentness.
Director Cheryl Ann Cluff honors the immediacy of each moment and we simply experience the story as though we were watching a scene through an open window into Skye and Callum’s world. Do I wish I had more frame of reference? Of course I do!.I love to know the real story behind the event. After all, I watch the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City!.I want to know what’s up behind the scenes. By leaving the context open to our interpretation, my mind danced over a million possibilities and I felt myself pondering each word and each movement over and over again. The whole event is a trip.
I loved the easy charm of Benjamin Young’s Callum. He is large, but light. He floats and seems untethered to the ground. In contrast, Sydney Shoell is tiny and wiry, but their character Skye is fully grounded to the earth. Their character carries gravity that matches Callum’s airy aura. I loved seeing the difference in their energies, and the way both actors connect to one another. No one knows us better than a sibling. You can share your childhood traumas with a lover, a friend, or even a parent, but no one else has experienced life from the same vantage, at the same time, the way a sibling has. I kept thinking of my own brother Jack, born just 18 months after me, who died 19 years ago. I wish I could have watched the show with him.
I have to comment on Victoria Bird’s costumes. I was absolutely enamored with the wedding dress and with Callum’s jackets. Also, the music brought up a whole different set of memories. Who among us hasn’t sat and wept and laughed to The Smiths? If you haven’t yet had that pleasure, go see My Brother Was a Vampire at Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center tonight through November 13th, then sit in your car and listen to “Please Please Please, Let Me Get What I Want” and try to figure out if you want to laugh or cry. Then realize that it’s just as easy to do both.
Plan-B Theatre Company presents My Brother Was a Vampire by Morag Shepherd.
Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W 300 S, Salt Lake City, UT, 84101
November 3-13, 2022 Th-F 8:00 PM, Sat 4:00 PM, 8:00 PM, Sun 2:00 PM.
Tickets are $25 with additional fees.
Contact: 801-355-2787
Plan-B Theatre Facebook PagePlan B requires all patrons wear well-fitting KN95 or N95 masks. They provide masks for you.
Recommended for ages 12+. Language and mature subject matter, including drugs, addiction, suicidal ideation, and abuse.
As of publication, tickets are only available for Thursday, November 10th performance.
Photo credit: Sharah Meservy
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