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I Will Swallow The Rain
Written & Directed by Andrew Perez
Produced by Red Jacket Theatre
At Profiles Theatre
4147 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL
Call 312-493-9561, tickets $15
Thursdays & Fridays at 8 PM
Saturdays at 8 & 11 PM
Running time is 90 minutes with no intermission
Through August 26, 2006
New theatre troupe delivers an intense absurdist work
I enjoy discovering new theatre groups and the group of young artists, led by Northwestern University graduate Andrew Perez, delivered a most energetic new work, I Will Swallow The Rain. Perez wrote and directed this wild, manic surrealistic one act. I liked this initial offering. Andrew Perez is surly a talented playwright not afraid to take chances as he pushes his story into dangerous territory utilizing absurdist techniques.
This is a fascinating take where Willie (played with a manic intensity by the talented new comer Jonny Sanders) is celebrating his 21st birthday by drinking himself to death as he attempts to down 5 fifths of Scotch. He is depressed with saying goodbye, first to his departed mother, then to his father who has taken up with a religious cult and now his loyal friend, Jill (Sarra Kaufman), so he decides to die in a frenzied ritual.
We know we are in a surreal world when a white and brown large rat, Cheffron (Jonah Meadows in a terrific costume by Caroline Fourmy) emerges spouting limericks about moral combat with Spiderman (Alex Sell).
We see Willie acting like a sloppy drunk determined to destroy himself despite the best efforts of Jill to stop him. Sarra Kaufman mumbled and ran many words together that made much of her early dialogue hard to understand. Jonny Sanders’ Willie eventually emerges as an empathetic person when we understand his pain. A quicker pace and some editing would help these early scenes.
When Willie’s old pal Peter (the hyper Alex Sell) comes by with an amazing birthday present to atone for his not taking Willie to see his sick mother, Willie goes from friendly to hostile in a series of wild scenes where the two men do much physical antics: jumping, hugging, pushing, wrestling as they attempt to reconcile their friendship while downing shots of scotch. When Peter announces that he’ll probably die soon as he is Spiderman and must end his reign as the superhero, Willie things he’s crazy. Is this all Willie’s drunkin’ imagination or is it real?
The writing and the wild, physicality are compelling theatre. The 90 minute piece has some weird scenes that didn’t work too well like the playing of a tape containing some unintelligible, unidentified kids playing a game. This slowed down the pace needlessly.
I Will Swallow The Rain, despite some rough edges, delivers an emotional collapse due to loss of loved ones as well as the recognition from the father by each of the men effectively. The rat and the Spiderman add spice to the absurdist bent of the show. I also like the consistent over-the-top antics from Alex Sell and Jonny Sanders. They jumped and jumped around the stage like kangaroos. Their extreme emotions deftly depicted their pain. The excessive antics by these two may be hard for some to fathom but in the context of the piece they serve it well.
Andrew Perez is a playwright with a new voice and an absurdist leading that promises to offer plays with intensity. Red Jacket Theatre has a worthy show full of deliciously physical action. Seeing this show will get many to swear off drinking!
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: July 27, 2006
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