Reviewed by Judy Richter
Dad gets home late from work. Mom
is annoyed, especially after a trying day with their nearly 7-year-old
daughter, who has been put to bed at 5 p.m. Dad goes upstairs to check on the
girl, but she's missing.
Thus
the plot is set in motion in Steve Yockey's "Bellwether" in its world premiere at Marin
Theatre Company.
It's an ironic contrast to the opening scene when six neighbors extol the
virtues of their gated community, Bellwether. "This is a safe
neighborhood," they say. It doesn't seem so safe after the list of missing
children grows to 10 names, all of them vanished without a trace.
As
the search for Amy, the first missing child, proves fruitless, the finger of
blame begins to point toward her parents, Alan (Gabriel Marin) and Jackie Draft (Arwen
Anderson), who
we know are innocent. However, the stress of missing Amy, being grilled again
and again by the unsympathetic police and facing their neighbors' accusations
put a great strain on the Drafts' relationship, which already had some cracks.
While
the action proceeds somewhat naturally during most of the first act, it gets
scary just before intermission. Then the second act takes a supernatural turn,
thus living up to the play's billing as a fairy tale for adults. This act takes
quite a bit of suspension of disbelief by the audience. That part didn't quite
work for me. Nevertheless, I found myself totally rapt.
Even
during the first act, some details don't add up, including a 5 p.m. bedtime for
a 7-year-old. Then there are the detectives (Danny Wolohan and Patrick Jones, who also appear as neighbors).
It's highly unprofessional of them to tell the Drafts that their colleagues are
betting that the couple are responsible for Amy's disappearance.
Still,
the play benefits from a first-rate production under the direction of Ryan
Rilette. Marin
and Anderson are excellent as the parents go through their ordeal with raw
emotions. Rachel Harker plays Maddy, a neighbor with whom Jackie is friendly. Joining the
chorus of neighbors are Liz Sklar, Marissa Keltie and Mollie Stickney. These three women also portray
ghoulish TV reporters who continue to play up the story and to make their own
insinuations even when there's nothing new to report. Completing the cast are Kathryn
Zdan as the Doll
and Jessica Lynn Carroll as Amy.
The
Drafts' suburban home set is designed by Giulio Cesare Perrone with lighting by York Kennedy, costumes by Fumiko
Bielefeldt, and
music and sound by Chris Houston.
After
it's over, one is left wondering what happens next, especially for Alan and
Jackie. Their lives will never be the same again.
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