Blackbird
Blackbird, by David Harrower, was produced at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2006 and transferred to the Albery Theatre in London’s West End. In 2007, it premiered at the Manhattan Theater Club and the American Conservatory Theatre. Multi-award winning Rogue Machine brings this critically acclaimed play to Los Angeles for the first time. And what a remarkable play it is. It courageously deals with one of the most taboo and painful subjects of our society, child seduction and molestation.
How many of us would like to confront that person who changed the course of our lives, particularly if the change was for the worse? How many of us would like to discover why and how that person was capable of evil and of harming us? Una (beautifully portrayed by Corryn Cummings) is a young adult who has survived years of low self-esteem and promiscuity. She tracks down and confronts her first lover who took her when she was 12 years old. Ray (consummate actor, Sam Anderson) is now an aging, pot-bellied man who, after serving jail time and changing his name, is holding down a somewhat decrepit job and ostensibly sustaining a more adult relationship with a woman his own age. Una forces him to relive what he did and confront the harm he brought upon his young victim. I have heard it said that it is not possible to truly forgive another until you have made him/her understand and feel the pain they have inflicted. That seems to be happening in this play—until an ambiguous ending sends us out of the theatre with yet more unease.
Robin Larsen who has won many awards as a director comes hot from his last brilliant success, Pursued by Happiness, and although this is a more intimate and difficult emotional journey, he leads his actors flawlessly.
To all serious theatre goers, this is a must see.
ROGUE MACHINE (in Theatre Theater
5041 W. Pico Blvd. L. A. 90019 (West of La Brea)
Schedule until June 19th: 8pm Fridays, 5pm Saturdays & Sundays
Schedule as of June 25th: 5pm Saturdays & Sundays, 8pm Mondays
No performance on July 4 or July 18.
Closing July 24, 2011
855-585-5185 or www.roguemachinetheatre.com