When The Rain Stops Falling

When The Rain Stops Falling
By Andrew Bovell. St. Jude’s Players (SA). Directed by Geoff Britain. St. Jude’s Hall, Brighton. April 14-23, 2016

Andrew Bovell’s play chronicles three generations of a troubled family, exploring the ways in which the sins of parents affect the lives of their children, and the tangled web of interconnected psychological neuroses that result. Events unfold in a non-linear, episodic fashion, jumping backwards and forwards in time seemingly at random, the pieces of the puzzle only coming together at the very end. This deliberately jumbled method of storytelling does help the audience relate to the confusion of identity suffered by the main characters, but it is likely to test the patience of those who prefer a plot with a straightforward beginning, middle and end – especially since When The Rain Stops Falling is over two hours long and presented here without an intermission. Though the script contains many moments of subtle, dry humour, the prevailing tone is very dark. Nonetheless, this is the kind of challenging work which rewards attentive audiences with profound, poignant insights into the human condition.

The unnervingly intense, but grounded performances of the entire cast ensure that it is very easy to empathise with these characters, even when they are behaving in a manner that is foolish or cruel.

Cheryl Douglas authentically projects a weary melancholy, as a middle aged housewife stuck in a marriage that has lost its spark, who descends into alcoholism upon discovery of her husband’s various perverse infidelities. Nick Fagan, in a role that could easily have descended into moustache twirling caricature, plays her sexually deviant, emotionally crippled husband as a tragic figure. Rhonda Grill, who plays Douglas’ character as an old lady, brings a nervous, panicked edginess to the role which effectively conveys how decades of drinking and denial have shattered her psyche.

Casmira Hambledon displays both a winsome charm and a flair for snark as a lonesome, small town girl drawn into a whirlwind holiday romance with Mark Healy’s affable but melancholy tourist. The two have a relaxed, natural chemistry that ensures it’s not hard to believe the two could fall head over heels in love very quickly… or that Tracey Walker, playing an aged version of Hambledon’s character wrestling with dementia, would be haunted by the demise of this relationship for the rest of her life, and that Peter Davies, as her loyal husband, would be so self-conscious of his status as “the fallback guy”. These two actors have a wounded, wary rapport that is equally affecting in its own way.

Lyndon Cullen-Reid and Tim Williams round out the cast, and there’s a bumbling sweetness to the way in which they play out the drama of a son trying to reconnect with his estranged father, whose anxiety disorder has isolated him from the world at large.

The family connections between these characters are not immediately obvious, because the cast do not have a strong physical resemblance to each other and little effort has been made with hairstyling or makeup to establish visual similarities. The same can not be said of the sets, which are impressionistic but strikingly evocative, or the costumes, which have an authentic period flavour. The lighting design and incorporation of video projections ensure smooth scene transitions, and their fluidity is especially impressive given the choppy nature of Bovell’s narrative.

Benjamin Orchard

PREVIEW AND BUY THE SCRIPT HERE.

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