“Blackbird” reviewed by Mark Reinecke

***** “Blackbird” is a play that is hard to explain. And, ultimately, it is unknowable. This is a gripping, unsettling, and explosive production, presented by The New Theatre Project, that goes beyond the simple shock value to something that penetrates our very soul. Written by David Harrower and directed by Spencer Huffman, Blackbird does a deep, dangerous, unvarnished dive into the hardship and emotional harm done to a young girl sexualized too early in life. It also probes the mindset of a man who was attracted to this underage girl, one who paid his price to society.

Blackbird is one beautiful, hard-to-swallow pill. Well-crafted. Well-acted. Thought provoking. At the age of 12, Una (Olivia Lindsay) meets Ray (Todd Wojcik) – at the time, named Peter – age 40, at her father’s backyard BBQ. Three months later, Ray leaves a bed he was sharing with Una to get a pack of cigarettes and never returns. After being arrested and having served a sentence in prison, he disappears into a new life. After discovering Ray works in a dental products manufacturing company, Una finds him in his trash-strewn breakroom and the play begins.

Una is now in her late twenties and Ray in his mid-fifties. They have not seen each other since the night he left. Olivia Lindsay and Todd Wojcik, using their compelling rapid-fire acting skills, will send you to precarious depths and shadowed corners that will crush you in an uninterrupted 80 minutes.

The scenarios presented by Una and Ray are each compelling and believable. We may not fully understand what we are witnessing. Are we talking about rape? A relationship? Abuse? Sex? The only truth is both characters have faced trauma and suffering. This is an astounding experience that will shatter your pre-conceived notions.

David Harrower’s intelligent script does not take sides. His language is direct, precise, and without grand flourishes. He presents us with two flawed, damaged characters. Both are thrown into a fighting cage, and we are the silent referee. Una and Ray are forced to relive the most damaging moments of their past. How they articulate those events and the emotions they trigger are a combination of heart-wrenching, furious, and I hesitate to say, tender.

Director Spencer Huffman has cast two believable dramatic performers in very difficult roles. Olivia Lindsay has to shift from anger to yearning to seduction to desperation in any moment and with expert skill. Una toys with Ray. She is invested in this role completely both physically and emotionally, and is absolutely believable as a confused, hurt young woman. She does not understand why she was abandoned, while having to endure being ostracized in a prison of her own with no place to hide.

Todd Wojcik moves between confusion, passion, fear and remorse seamlessly and is a convincing, skittish character. You feel his tension. His nervous energy. His anger. Ray is an opaque man. And our response to him for his illegal actions get muddled and a lot less clear. He does not seem like a predator. He is presented as an everyman. The guy next door who made a terrible mistake and has been rehabilitated. As we are forced to face the long-term mental trauma done to Una, we are also looking at the emotional damage and vulnerability in the man as well. This is the essence of the moral ambiguity of this play.

The New Theatre Project (Meredith Awalt, production stage manager) presents this play in an actual work site, Servi-Sure, a titanium parts factory in Bowmanville on the NW Side. (Parking is a breeze.) You are walked through the empty darkened plant (Caleb Ramos, original music and sound design) and taken into an actual breakroom with fluorescent lighting, plastic furniture, a microwave, coffee, the usual. There is trash piled up and overflowing. The harshness of the lighting and discarded garbage seems to mirror the big mess Una and Ray have created and the intense over lit exposure of these vulnerable characters as they really are, and not how they want to be seen. At moments, in a darkened room after the building’s lights go off, we find ourselves sitting in our own shadowy darkness wondering and waiting. It is all so frighteningly realistic.

There is a disturbing, indecipherable curveball thrown before it is all over. It leaves the viewers with much to think about, including the larger issues of family, friends, and neighborhood. There are our assumptions and judgements. We are faced with justice and a political system. And it is told within a certain ragged and suffering truthfulness. Like a challenging work of art, it shouldn’t be easy. It should force us to examine the world around us. And it should raise difficult questions. Black and white is rarely so.

Blackbird

By David Harrower

Directed by Spencer Huffman

Presented by The New Theatre Project

Servi-Sure LLC

2020 W. Rascher Avenue, Chicago 60625

Through November 23rd with performances as follows:

Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm

Sundays at 7 pm.

Tickets: $45

https://bit.ly/,NTP_BLACKBIRD

This is a limited  run.                                                                               photos: George Hudson

The play takes place in a working titanium parts factory. Ticket holders will meet a stage manager at the entrance of the factory. Late entry not allowed.