Three Days of Rain

Presented by Mockingbird Public Theatre

Through Nov. 18

Belcourt Theatre, 2102 Belcourt Ave.

For tickets, call 242-6704

On Oct. 27, Mockingbird Public Theatre opened its 2000-2001 season on its new stage at the Belcourt Theatre. The historic old venue, enjoying reasonable success as a rejuvenated movie house these days, functions quite nicely as a legitimate theater as well. Compared to the company’s previous situation at the Darkhorse Theater, Mockingbird now enjoys increased seating capacity, a generous playing area encased within a wide proscenium, and a deep backstage wall and fly space, all of which should provide welcome flexibility for future productions of many kinds.

Ironically, Mockingbird’s first presentation in its new home isn’t the sort of play that needs a lot of space. Three Days of Rain is a well-written, intellectually provocative piece requiring one simple set and three actors. Since its off-Broadway debut in 1997, Richard Greenberg’s thoughtful drama has been performed throughout the country as well as in London, and it has been in the running for big awards, though falling short of garnering the Pulitzer or the Drama Desk. The play is certainly a professionally crafted piece, and it is eminently act-able as well, as actors David Alford, Paul Michael Valley, and Shelean Newman prove with generally solid results.

The time is 1995. The place is an unoccupied loft space in downtown Manhattan. Brother and sister Walker and Nan (Alford and Newman) meet up for the first time in years, on the occasion of their father’s death and the disposition of his will. There is some obvious animosity between them, and while Nan is comfortably ensconced in fairly conventional domestic life, poor Walker seems chronically depressed, unambitious, and aimless. Unresolved family business is at the heart of their tense relationship. They are also awaiting the arrival of Pip (Valley), a soap opera actor whose father was in partnership with the siblings’ dad in an architectural firm. Besides the childhoods the three shared, it is also revealed that they were involved in a complicated romantic triangle.

The romantic entanglements of the past, however, take a backseat to bigger issues involving the fate of the famous home designed by the architect team and the psychic resolution that Walker seeks regarding his parents. His angst is further fueled by his discovery of a journal his father kept some 35 years before.

Walker’s journey with Nan through the diary entries helps to catapult us into Act 2, where the principals’ parents are in the same loft space in 1960. Now Alford takes the role of Ned, his father; Newman becomes her mother, Lina; and Valley his father, Theo. Their interpersonal dynamics certainly shed some interesting light on the children’s present-day concerns, the message here being that past is prologue. While Greenberg’s script offers no cataclysmic insights into the human condition, it does provide some very good character studies of people in transition, and a sense of the importance of familial connections and the lifelong search for self.

Rene Copeland adroitly directs the action here, which takes place on Anne Willingham’s starkly effective set, which is bathed in Rudi Aldridge’s moody backlighting. We certainly get a sense that we’re in New York City, and perhaps more than anything else, this feeling of dark sophistication infuses the performances.

Alford is so-so as Walker. His characterization seems a little unfocused and peculiar, though he may be skirting aspects of his character’s personality before the script actually reveals them to us. He’s eminently better as Ned, a kindly yet determined man whose obvious shyness is strengthened by the courage he musters in dealing with a slight stutter. Valley, a real-life veteran of the soap opera Another World, plays the role of Pip to the hilt, though it’s hard to believe that a character who uses the words “colloquy” and “remonstrate” with authority is as airheaded as might be construed. In Theo, he gives us a father who is not unlike the son, though a little more serious, a little more tortured. Newman as Nan is somewhat bland, but her Act 2 portrayal of Lina is worlds different, as she transforms herself into a charming, attractive Southern lady with a pleasingly appropriate drawl and a colorful personality anchored to emotional depth.

There is one slight technical concern here: Newman could not be heard 20 to 30 percent of her time onstage. This problem plagued Alford a bit too. Possibly the new surroundings of the Belcourt have something to do with this unfortunate situation, as larger audiences will tend to soak up sound. At any rate, it serves as a critical reminder to all actors: Project! Project!

This is a good, but not great, play whose best virtues—its literate sensibility and its universal theme—are handled with care by dedicated professionals. Moreover, Mockingbird’s arrival at the Belcourt should have us looking forward to more daring uses of its new and improved surroundings. Three Days of Rain runs for two more weekends, through Nov. 18.

Slow going

Separate Tables, presented by ACT I, is currently running at Mockingbird’s old home, the Darkhorse Theater. Alas, the limitations of the Darkhorse definitely have an impact on this 1954 British play by Sir Terence Rattigan. There are several scene changes during the action, all of which are cleanly (and quite admirably) executed by human hands. The rub is that they seem to take forever, and these seemingly interminable breaks in the action not only rob the play of any momentum, but they also serve as an ironclad reminder of why Mockingbird desired a different playing space.

Rattigan’s portrait of life among the denizens of a boardinghouse on the English coast is quite well-written, and director Bob O’Connell has effectively tapped into the appropriate style of this period piece. The themes of class-consciousness, snobbery, narrow-mindedness, and, ultimately, renewal are presented with clarity. Yet one watches this production with frustration; while the pacing seems right internally, it just takes too darn long for events to develop. Throw in the technical hurdles, and you have an evening of theater that stretches to three hours—when it should be much less—and simply taxes the viewer’s patience.

There are some interesting performances, however, and they demand mention. Anne Tonelson leads the charge of British matrons. She, along with Linda Speir and Adele Akin, epitomizes old-line pseudo-aristocracy, with all its false airs and judgmental artifice. Cinda McCain is good, too, as a middle-aged lady trying to reconnect with her ex-husband. Bob Young makes for a likable Major Pollock, a military man of dubious standing with a troubled past. And Krys Collins is very good as the boardinghouse mistress, who has her own romantic issues yet steadfastly keeps watch over her flock.

Separate Tables will close this Saturday night, Nov. 11. For ticket information, call 726-ACT1.