by Susannah Whitman
Utah Repertory Theater has created an interesting setting for their current production of Blackbird in Salt Lake City. Food wrappers and trash litter the floor of the breakroom onstage. The walls are half-finished–patches of paint and exposed outlets under a dim fluorescent light. In the corner, sheets of drywall are propped near a ladder. This is a room halfway between destruction and renewal.
Really, this is a room of unfinished business, as director Larry West points out in the program notes. A perfect setting for the reunion between Una and Ray in Utah Repertory Theatre’s production of Blackbird.
Written in 2005 by Scottish playwright David Harrower, the script tells the story of a meeting between 27-year-old Una (Anne Louise Brings) and Ray (Mark Fossen), the middle-aged man who sexually abused her when she was 12. Through Mamet-esque halting dialogue, Ray and Una slowly fight to untangle what happened between them fifteen years ago. The play received critical acclaim in the United Kingdom and the U.S., and both Michelle Williams and Jeff Daniels received Tony nominations for their performances of the play on Broadway in 2016.
The play is short—only 75 minutes—but a lot is packed into those intermission-free minutes. There is a beautiful and, at times uncomfortable, peeling away of layer after layer of “what happened” between these two characters all those years ago. And the closer we get to the truth, the more we realize it’s not nearly as black and white as we’d like it to be. There are wrong things in this story, and right things, and wrong things that feel right, and right things that feel wrong. There is shame and confusion and longing and hope and heartbreak.
They say that half of the work of directing is casting the right people, and Fossen and Brings are the right people. With such capable actors, director Larry West could collaborate to create some truly effective storytelling.
Fossen portrayed Ray with brilliant honesty, allowing us to see both the shame and the hope within him. It would be easy for this character to be a clear villain, and it would be just as easy for him to be a victim. But Fossen doesn’t portray him as either. Under West’s direction, Fossen found the complexity of this character–a man who is both villain and victim, who is both honorable and guilty.
Brings plays Una with both vulnerability and strength. The character of Una was far too young to process what took place between her and Ray, and we sense that “incompleteness” in her life; the way she’s had to try and move forward, despite losing part of her childhood. Brings shows both the longing and hope she felt as a child and still sometimes feels now, along with the bitter, heartbreaking anger she can’t stop.
Finally, 13-year-old Kayla Seibeneck does wonderfully in her short moments onstage. She listens well and portrays young Carla with honesty.
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There were a few moments when the actors had their backs to the audience for longer than I liked. In a proscenium theatre set up, I felt I was missing some great moments, only because I couldn’t always see an actor’s face. Still, in those moments, the actors communicated and the story moved beautifully along.
Utah Repertory Theatre is still fairly new in the area, but it’s already won significant praise in its five years. It’s known for producing lesser-known shows, and “edgier” shows that might not get produced in Utah otherwise. They’re filling a need for deeper stories, for stories of conflict and humor and heartbreak. There is great value in Disney musicals, but it’s wonderful to see companies like Utah Rep producing innovative and moving theatre that explores the human experience in other ways.
Blackbird is performed in the small theatre space at the Sorensen Unity Center in Salt Lake City. It’s not an ideal space—there’s limited lighting capabilities, and there’s no space for a tech booth—but Utah Rep does a great job with what they have. One element I felt was missing was sound design. The pre-show music was a loop of simple Bossa Nova tunes—think “elevator music.” It wasn’t unpleasant, but it didn’t seem to be related to the script. There was no need for sound design during the performance itself, and effects or background music would have probably been distracting. But one of the great things about theatre is that you have so many elements at your disposal to create a story: lighting, sound, words, costumes, set, etc. It would have been nice to have a stronger pre-show soundtrack to add to that storytelling.
But despite the lack of a strong pre-show soundtrack, I left the theatre feeling deeply moved. Sexuality and love and innocence and childhood and shame are all heavy topics. They’re difficult to talk about, but they should be talked about. The pain that the characters experience in this play comes both from things that were wrong, and also from both of them wanting things that were wrong. These stories are rarely “simple.” They are often complex and confusing. But it is in those complex and confusing spaces that we can make room for healing and forgiveness. Through their experience, you may find change happening inside of you as you watch Utah Rep’s Blackbird.
Utah Repertory Theatre presents Blackbird by David Harrower
Sorensen Unity Center, 1383 South 900 West, Salt Lake City
July 21-22, 7:30 PM, July 28-30 7:30 PM
Tickets $20 for adults, $17 for students. May be purchased at the door or online. General seating.
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Content: Some language, frank discussion of sexuality and abuse.
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