When the Rain Stops Falling, a dark, poetic drama by Australian playwright Andrew Bovell, has been given a first-rate production by City Garage, the avant-garde company headed by Frederique Michel.
Bovell’s play takes place between 1959 and 2039 and follows, largely, the fortunes of two families, the Yorks and the Laws. Bovell eschews linear construction, favoring instead a jumping back and forth in time. The settings vary, as well: a small flat in London, the southern coast of Australia, rooms in the cities of Adelaide and Alice Springs. None of these places is represented realistically; designer Charles A. Duncombe opts for multi-level platforms backed by a video screen on which key images constantly unspool: falling rain, rolling waves, star-filled skies. In this moodily lit environment, the actors move and speak in tightly controlled, almost robotic fashion. Their drab clothing adds to the prison-like look and feel of things, but then come sudden bursts of scarlet-red colors (boots, umbrellas, telephones) to humanize the scene.
Bovell’s theme is the misery that stems from people’s refusal to deal with unpleasant truths. Instead of dealing openly and honestly with the awful things that sometime happen in our families – such as murder and pedophilia -- we bury these secrets, evade talking about them. As a result, a dark legacy is passed on from generation to generation, impairing the capacity to think, feel and love.
Bovell also ties, somehow, environmental catastrophe to that inability of ours to lead fully human lives. Hence the rain that never quits falling in this grim, apocalyptic drama.
Tightly written, skillfully directed and acted, When the Rain Stops Falling is a provocative and challenging play that resonates afterwards like a haunting piece of music.
