Bakersfield Mist

Based (however loosely) on a true story, Bakersfield Mist is the tale of the efforts of two people — the owner, and an art expert — to verify whether a painting purchased as a piece of junk was the work of Jackson Pollock.

The twists and turns in what you’d imagine might be a simple tale play out with gratifying realism in the hands of the play’s two protagonists, John Wood (as Lionel Percy) and Julie Nihill (as Maude Gutman).  Wood is superb as the confident expert stating the unquestionable; Nihill plays the streetwise, strategic claimant to perfection.  Together, Wood and Nihill bring surprising drama, comedy, and pathos to a conflict in which both eventually must bare their souls.

Almost a character itself, the set represents with impressive realism a home that has mushroomed from a caravan in an Illinois “trailer park”.  The lighting on the painting in question is at times almost mystical, and, in the medium-large steeply tiered auditorium of The Q, the evidently unamplified voices seemed sufficient even in the quieter lines, and without a hint of an artificially raised voice throughout.

This story won’t have you searching your soul for days afterward; but, in pitting an irresistible force against an immovable object, it’s a piece of surprisingly varied and enjoyable theatre.

John P. Harvey

Image: John Wood and Julie Nihill, in Bakersfield Mist. Jodie Hutchinson Photography.