Monday, April 15, 2019

The Clearing. Play by Helen Edmundson. Hub Theatre Company--Boston.

 

  Review by Doug Holder

Imagine--if you were arrested for speaking your native tongue. If the land you poured your sweat, your spirit, your very life was taken away with hardly a second thought. Imagine being deported to another country, culture, that will probably view you as yet another alien, pocking the landscape. No this ain't "Let's Make America, Great" territory, but 17th century Ireland, when Oliver Cromwell's English army ravaged the countryside, seizing land, separating families, and killing up to 620,000 people between 1641 and 1653.

In " The Clearing" by Helen Edmundson and directed by Daniel Bourque, presented by the Hub Theatre Company of Boston, the play focuses on the fate of two couples who are affected by draconian British law and its barbaric manifestation. Basically, the play centers around a young couple expertly played by Brashani Reece ( Madeline Preston) and Matthew Zahnzinger ( Robert Preston). The actors show the slow burn and raging fire of a crumbling marriage, as they are consumed by cruel fate.


Jeff Gill, a veteran actor, was certainly a standout in this performance. He plays the British Governor,  a man with a craggy face and persistent hacking cough. The couple pleads their case in front of him to no avail. Gill sticks out like an angry wound, stating between coughs, " Ireland is a whore. And a whore can't be trusted." He is an unblinking stooge of the state, and blathers off his senseless edicts like any drunk on a bar stool.


At certain points it was heard to hear the actors, especially when they addressed opposite sides of the audience. I could definitely see the hand of the director , as the scenes flowed, and were well-orchestrated. 

Hats off to Lauren Elias  a co-founder of the Hub Theatre Company, and her band of friends and actors.

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