- OTHER MEDIA
|
- 'Wind and Rain' lovely, lethal and lyrical
- SF Chronicle April 19, 2010 (Robert Hurwitt)
-
- It's hard to beat a tale of one sister killing the other for love of
the same man. There's nothing sensationalistic, gory or hokey about "The
Wind and Rain" at Exit Theatre, though. In the hands of writer-director
Claytie Mason and her crew, the drama is as concentrated, melodic and hauntingly
elusive as the traditional Irish ballad on which it's based.
-
- The anchor of this year's DivaFest (another, "A Most Notorious
Woman," starring Exit Artistic Director Christina Augello, had to
be postponed until July), the world premiere of "Wind" runs through
May 1 in tandem with a late-night Saturday cabaret-drama, "Lady of
the 'Loin." Created by Mason with the ensemble, it's a slim but almost
entirely engrossing exercise in theatrical simplicity.
-
- It's also lovely. Jenna Bean Veatch and Brynna Jourden warble the old
tune beautifully as the beloved "fair" sister Sarah and vengeful
"dark" Finn. Accomplished violinist Rebecca Jackson ornaments
the action in country fiddle, classical and atonal modes. Designer Molly
Millar, who worked with Mason on the beguiling "The Secret Ruths of
Island House," creates an enchanting river-scape of scalloped cloth
waves and nautical ropes and pulleys.
-
- In this "Wind," the river is more central than the "miller's
son" (unseen) both women love, or the Fiddler (Jackson), who makes
a fiddle from the drowned Sarah's bones. Mason and the cast focus on the
erosion of a close, supportive relationship between sisters in a decaying
former mill town.
-
- Veatch's blithe, girlish Sarah is a romantic dreamer, hooked on movie
musicals and hungry for love. Jourden's bitter, scientific tomboy Finn
despises the town, its people and the environmental degradation the mill
represents and lives for the day the sisters can escape to anywhere else.
-
- Their possible romantic rivalry remains, murky, perhaps too much so.
We learn more about Sarah's work at a diner and Finn's as a garage mechanic.
What emerges with allusive density is the effect of evasions, competitiveness,
and jealousy on the sisterly bond.
-
- It's drama as reflections on a folk tune, with the potential and limitations
that implies. A few ideas are repeated like a refrain and some could be
more affecting if clarified. But Jackson's music and the flowing, gripping
choreography of the sisters in the river weave a lyrical spell. "Wind"
has both the simplicity and staying power of an old familiar song.
|
|