There’s a hurricane happening in the Hotchner Studio Theatre at Washington University.
In only 90 minutes, the storm forms, erupts and passes, but The Black Rep gives Donja R. Love’s play Fireflies every possible bit of energy necessary for the full-blast script to leave an audience barely holding on.
It’s late summer 1963. We’re at a home not terribly far away from Birmingham, Alabama. The play opens on the day of the horrible church bombing that killed four innocent girls. Olivia (Zahria Moore) is married to Charles (Eric Connors). He’s a pastor who works for the civil rights movement, a very public face; she writes his speeches and sermons. The stress of their lives is heavy. Calls about young men in jails, a request to speak at the girls’ funeral in Birmingham, the weight of knowing how vulnerable they are in the world they live in – it’s a burden. He’s gone from home often. She coordinates his schedule and pounds out rhetoric on short notice, rhetoric that enhances his already-fiery reputation.
But Olivia seems sort of off-bandwidth. There’s something that isn’t quite right. We aren’t sure if her hearing bombs going off in her head is a metaphor or just what. Writing a letter to a friend, she seems dreamy. Or distracted. Nevertheless, when Charles comes home from an overnight trip, she’s right at it, cooking his supper and trying to humor his eager advances. But beyond the domesticity and the worries about safety because of their participation in the movement, there’s something else. Why is she looking for something in the jacket he shed when he walked in the house?
When Charles begins talking about the bombs Olivia hears, we begin to realize they’re symptoms of the tension she’s feeling. She says she dreamed the fireflies outside were childrens’ souls going off to God. We learn that Charles drinks pretty seriously – and that Olivia is, after many years of marriage, pregnant. But that turns out to be only a start.
Yes, it’s a lot for 90 minutes. It’s packed. The performances of Connors and Moore are mesmerizing. Director Andrea Frye has this storm under precise control – which is to say it doesn’t look like anything but spontaneity. Dunsi Dai’s set is a good part of the work, and the lighting of Sean Savoie is impeccable.
Emotions. Surprises. Great work from the two actors in this very intimate setting.
Fireflies
through February 27
The Black Rep
Hotchner Studio Theatre at Washington University
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