Review By M.T. Bennett, Front Row Reviewers
At Salt Lake City’s Regent Street Black Box Theater comes Craven, a terrifying tale put on by the Wasatch Theatre Company. Written and very well researched by local award-winning playwright, Élise C. Hanson, who also plays Ada Craven in the play. It is a perfect tale for this Halloween season.
Reminiscent of The Fall of the House of Usher, the play follows the adult children of the Craven Clan after the untimely death of their parents. Arthur Craven (Ryan Kinville) is saddled with the responsibility of the family’s work and estate, Greyhawk. Arthur is also responsible for the care of his troubled sister Ada (Élise C. Hanson) and gambling playboy brother Sidney (Grant Christopherson). As the play progresses and nightmares emerge, Arthur learns of a deeper secret responsibility: a debt to ancient folk magic in the valley of the Craven estate, a debt that is quickly coming due for all who bear the Craven name.
As E. C. Hanson puts it, “There are two horror stories: the monster without and the monster within. Craven grapples with both, balancing nimbly between the external forces that disrupt and prod and awaken the forces within us.” E. C. Hanson is a master at her craft. She created a beautiful and poetic script pregnant with flowing words and vivid imagery. Her depiction of Ada in all her madness and “cravings” is disturbing.
This is brought to life under the direction of Hugh Hanson. In the playbill, he mentions how each character was written by E. C. Hanson specifically for the actors in the play. This intentionality is seen in their interactions, lighting, and the production to bring the vision to full life in nightmarish reality. Also, thanks to the efforts of managing producer Jim Martin.
Kinville is masterful as Arthur Craven. From his first somber moment on the stage to his final crazed singing, he takes you on a journey of madness and desire. You see the weight of duty as it slowly drives him mad, along with the dark forces hidden in Greyhawk Manor. Kinville gives his entire soul to the performance, as does Austinn Jensen who plays Edgar Polk.
Jensen plays a man who rejected his training as a Christian priest, was cast out of society, and is now a herald of mysterious folk magic and stories. He is a zealot who shouts poetic prophecy. In one scene with Helen Fallow (Kajsa E. Nelson) he seems in ecstasy as his arms shake and you hear the violent shaking of leaves and trees. It really drives home the deep old-world magic in this story. A kind of cosmic Lovecraftian influence was at play. As Jensen enthralls the audience, he captures followers like Fallow, who herself vacillates between a kindly servant to a creepy witchlike enigma. I was never sure whose best interests she had in mind.
Sidney Craven, is played by Grant Christopherson, brings much needed levity to the story with his devil may care attitude toward the world and the misfortunes of the Craven family. Thomas Grey (Nick Mathews), the family lawyer, is a man of many faces as he tries to assist each of the Craven children in different and sometimes more arduous ways.
Rounding this out is the childhood friend now local priest, Father Hobbs (Christopher Lawrence Thorne) a foil to Arthur Craven. Hobbs is a man who is struggling to hold onto sanity by holding to his ideals and not giving into his “cravin,” This reveals Arthur’s torture, created by himself as much as the old-magic around him.
Haunters Jesse Bailer and George DeLorean bring a menace to the stage and do well in adding to the spooky scenes. There is a bit of risk in being in the “splash zone” during one nightmare sequence that certainly made me jump.
E. C. Hanson wears many hats beyond playwright and actress–as dialect coach and with makeup and effects. The use of lighting is simple but effectively creates moods and symbols. In one scene when the audience first see Arthur and Ada together, Arthur’s half of the stage is in a calm white and Ada’s is a deep mad red. Highlighting Arthur’s soundness of mind against Ada’s strangeness and madness, however it also hints at things to come when Arthur steps into the red light and joins Ada. As the scene progresses, they switch between the white and red sides just as they will move between lucidity and madness, then they both end the scene in red light, foreshadowing their eventual shared end.
So, if during this Halloween season you are craving something spooky, check out Craven. It is a poetic original story by one of Utah’s local well-renowned writers, with a cast who act with everything they have to bring this enjoyable albeit frightening story to life.
Wasatch Theatre Company presents Craven, written by Élise C. Hanson.
Eccles Theater, Regent Street Black Box Theater, 144 South Regent Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
October 11-14, 16 7:30 PM
Tickets: $20 for Adult, $15 for Student
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