Blackbird

I have seen "Blackbird" three times, once on Broadway which starred Jeff Daniels and Michelle Williams, another time off off Broadway starring Scott MC Cord at the 17th st theater and last night I saw this Blackbird at Theatre 4 at Theatre Row.

"Blackbird" is a play that you will either like or hate. There is no in-between and a lot has to do with the subject matter. The shows two character banter is 90 minutes long and the direction is on the slowish side with the two rehashing something that happened many years ago.

Playwright David Harrower has two actors trying to re-live the past and what happened to their lives since. The problem with this performance is two fold: the direction by Tara Brown never has the two in sync, and the both actors are weak in their respective roles. Where Scott MCCord was very believable as a once handsome young man who Una could fall for, Miguel Perez is sh lumpy and too withdrawn. He never is believable as a dashing, vibrant person.

In all three performances I have seen over the years, the writer never gives us a great detail about what has really happened to Ray. Even his position at the company he now works for is unclear. We know vaguely that he did jail time for his crimes, but the writing never goes in-depth as to his feelings about what he went through in jail; he only dabbles in it. The other thing missing is his life in general; why did he do what he did? Who was he before the incident? Even after jail, the writing doesn't tell us how he picked up the pieces.

As with Ray, we never get to know Una (Melina Farahani). Again we get snippets of what she has done since her relationship with Ray. We get no idea of what she has been up to, how she deals with what happened to her. The writer only gives us small insights as to how she was ridiculed, slapped in public over what happened; but it is never emotional enough to make us interested.

"Blackbird" has been widely produced over the years in many different countries. Where the show could tug on many more emotional cords, it doesn't. The play is always directed in a slow pace and coupled with slow writing, the 90 minutes of intermission less rhetoric is just that, words; words that go nowhere.

The best part of the show is when the two actors spar over their perspectives of what happened. At this point the writer gives us a small peak into their lives, their wants and desires. But the real meat gets interrupted when a young girl enters the stage. It is here that the play gets confusing. Who is she? Why is she there? Again Harrower is vague. The vagueness, however, never leads to a debate amongst audience members because it isn't worth picking this show apart. It is not a psychological thriller, nor a deep enough body of work to get excited about.

This play could be much more. I never understood why the direction always went in a low key, downtrodden way. The show would be better with more emotion, even fever pitch yelling at each other. Instead we get Una yelling rape in a very soft tone. The writer never gives us true emotion, instead the play goes through the motions.

I never really understood why this show drew so much support over the years. I never saw the allure of it, and yet it gets produced somewhere in the United States every year.

#Broadway Bob, Broadway, Jeff Daniels, "Blackbird", Tony Awards, Wikipedia, Hollywood, "The Lion King", "Aladdin", Harry Potter", "Hamilton", "Chicago".