REVIEW: When the Rain Stops Falling @ Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts

The fluttering wings of a butterfly in the Amazon forest cause a cyclone in northern Australia. That could well be the thesis for Andrew Bovell’s new play When the Rain Stops Falling given a superb, loving premiere at the Scott Theatre by Brink Productions, State Theatre of SA and the 2008 Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts. In this short review I cannot do justice to the experience of the play that runs non-stop for a short two hours and the excitement and emotions associated with it. I can only begin to share my deep feelings of the event. Suffice to say that even if I see nothing else in this Festival, When the Rain Stops Falling will remain etched in my brain forever. From Gabriel York’s opening cry of, “I don’t believe in God and I don’t believe in miracles!” as an ocean dwelling fish falls from the sky in Alice Springs to the bewildered laying out of family relics that seem to only be connected by their presence I was drawn into the lives of the characters. Ironically the name ‘Gabriel’ translates as ‘the man of God’. Bovell, the playwright, Hossein Valamanesh, the collaborator and designer of a setting that assists in and insists on meditative reflection, Quentin Grant, the composer and invisibly ever present musician, Chris Drummond, the director, and the talented cast have all worked together to give an unforgettable and emotional theatrical experience. Niklas Pajanti’s lighting design melds seamlessly into the setting to help create indelible images. The events of the play range over eighty years – from London in 1958 to Alice Springs in two thousand and thirty eight, but it is not a bleak vision of a dire future. The implications of the effects of climate change provide the canvas to the minutiae of the lives of the people: in 1958 London the emotional turmoil of newly weds where the difficult adjustment to living with another person is exacerbated by one partner’s psychological problem; emotional aridity caused by the denial of love; the turmoil of a suddenly burgeoning love in the Coorong; the spiritual impact of sunrise near Uluru; the long, slow devotion within an almost accidental marriage; and the loss and rediscovery of filial and paternal love. Just as they do in memory the events of the play occur simultaneously yet without confusion. Neil Pigot is Gabriel York in two thousand and thirty eight and he is also Gabriel’s grandfather Henry Law in 1958. Yalin Ozucelik is Gabriel Law and Andrew Price, the abandoned sons of Henry Law and Gabriel York. Paul Blackwell is Joe Ryan, Gabriel York’s stepfather and the rock of his troubled life as well as a devoted husband trying to come to terms with his wife’s slide into Alzheimers. Michaela Cantwell is the young Elizabeth Law, Henry’s new wife in 1958 London, seen in the flush of a recent marriage and devotion and then changing to adjust to the discoveries of her husband’s drives that dampen her love as she slides into the solace of alcohol. Carmel Johnson is Elizabeth Law some thirty years on as a repressed alcoholic who seems to have withheld her love from her son yet remains a caring mother in the bleakness of London. The rain reflected in the title is a metaphor for the unrelenting troubles that beset her family. Anna Lise Phillips is Gabrielle York in 1988, a 24-year-old waitress in a roadhouse on the Coorong. Gabrielle is a virgin whose parents have committed suicide after the death of their eight-year-old son and Gabrielle’s older brother and she falls in love with the Englishman Gabriel Law who is trying to retrace the paths of his long lost father Henry. Kris McQuade is Gabrielle York some twenty six years later in the grips of rapidly advancing Alzheimers who no longer recognises her caring husband Joe Ryan. When Gabriel York brings out the family relics in front of his estranged son Andrew in Alice of 2038 the audience immediately recognises their significance and connections while the characters stumble on unwittingly. Andrew Bovell shows his playwrighting skills as every word counts like it does in Chekhov and like Stoppard in After Magritte, Bovell leaves the audience knowing all while the characters remain befuddled. If you believe that theatre should provoke, disturb and evoke unforgettable images then you must not miss When the Rain Stops Falling. When the Rain Stops Falling by Andrew Bovell; a collaboration with Hossein Valamanesh and Brink Productions. Directed by Chris Drummond for Brink Productions, State Theatre Company of S A and the 2008 Adelaide Bank Festival of Arts. Scott Theatre, 28 Feb – 15 Mar 2008. For full article, read here ---> http://tinyurl.com/33zvck

The hit of the 2008 Adelaide Festival of Arts came in the form of a wonderful play called “When The Rain Stops Falling”, written by Andrew Bovell and presented by Brink Productions and the State Theatre Company of South Australia at the Scott Theatre on the fifth of March 2008. The play is a series of seemingly disconnected stories, set in four segments of time over an 80 year period between 1959 and 2039. It is a complexly interwoven sequence of events that witnesses some heart-breaking key moments in the lives of four generations of the same family and connected others. We are taken back and forth between London, Adelaide, the Coorong and Alice Springs, meeting the characters along the way and discovering the implications of one generation’s choice on the next. The family seems cursed by betrayal and abandonment, stemming from Henry Law’s shocking secret life which is hinted at and gradually unveiled. His poor, loving wife, Elizabeth, finally exposes the truth and makes a fateful decision to cast Henry away out of love, rather than see him jailed and destroyed. Little does she know the ramifications her choice will have on the generations that follow, and on the lives of others in a land far away. This is the very heart of the play. There are some powerful themes throughout the play. Abandonment; a reoccurring theme of sons growing up without their father was a key trait seemingly handed down through the generations. Betrayal; Henry’s act of betrayal resonates throughout the play. Regret and melancholy; many of the characters are haunted by their choices and this leads to ever-present sadness and self-destruction. The main message of the play however was hope. Misery had trickled down through the generations like a curse, but Gabriel York resisted the almost “inherited” instinct to run away from the discomfort of reconnecting with his son, Andrew. Their meeting was tentative and awkward, but it was liberating. The ending is an extremely poignant scene; Gabriel’s “handing down” of significant gifts to Andrew, where they are joined silently by the other characters who pass the items down the line in a symbolic, healing gesture, acknowledging the part they have played in this defining moment. It is at this moment that the rain stops, a powerful and emotional symbol of hope brought about by Gabriel’s act of “making things right”. It’s a very uplifting ending to a thought-provoking, emotionally wrenching story. The performances were rock-solid. The cast was an ensemble of highly experienced performers who really did justice to such a complex and emotional story. Kris McQuade, who plays the older Gabrielle York, is wonderful and powerfully convincing in her depiction of a woman who is experiencing the onset of dementia and reliving her past choices. Her torturous relationship with “second best” Joe Ryan is frustrating, sad and inappropriately funny. Her energy was masterful as she went between being calm and reflective, to ferociously angry and lost from moment to moment because of her affliction. She has an amazingly expressive voice that hits an emotional target in your mind with great effect. Michaela Cantwell and Carmel Johnson play their respective roles as the young and old Elizabeth Law to such great effect; you could be forgiven for thinking she was infact played by one woman who had aged during the play. Their depictions joined seamlessly. The transformation of this intelligent, loving and effervescent young woman into an empty, self-destructive shell is incredibly tragic and played with great sensitivity by both performers. This character could’ve created a dilemma had these two performers’ depictions not been so cohesive. The elements of the presentation were marvellously unified. There was a deceiving simplicity about the set which enhanced the performances, offering little in the way of distraction to the audience. Quentin Grant’s music was perfect as it set emotional tones that complimented the scenes, while the lighting was brilliantly used to great effect in enhancing the moods, emotions and contexts of the performances. But the most unique and amazing thing about this show is how various different time periods were represented on the stage simultaneously. This solidified the connections and relationships between the characters, the times and the places very potently. The extraordinary time and effort that must go into developing and executing a production like this has payed off with great success. You’re really not sure what you’re in for when you sit down to watch this play, but you certainly get a lot more than you expect. It’s quite the emotional roller-coaster that intrigues, shocks, saddens, resolves and redeems as you go along. I would recommend this wonderful piece of Australian theatre to everyone. It’s worthy of two or three visits to absorb it’s complexity but also for the sheer entertainment value.