The Syringa Tree at The Jungle Theater on 8/4/09
By: John Olive
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| Sarah Agnew in The Syringa Tree - Photo by Michal Daniel |
Or you can tell a real story. Create a multi-dimensional narrator and dozens of rich side characters and trust that your actor will make the rapidfire transitions work, that she can find the quick shadings needed to differentiate the characters, their accents, physical postures – their souls – and that she'll make the whole thing crackle along with building dramatic momentum.
This is the approach that Pamela Gien takes in her deeply personal The Syringa Tree (at the Jungle, 2951 Lyndale Ave. S., Tues-Sun through Aug 30, jungletheatre.com), a deft coming of age story set during the still-painful Troubles in South Africa.
Our narrator is Elizabeth Grace, a six year old child who, like all precocious children living in difficult times, is aware that something is happening, something strange and disturbing, just outside the boundary of her otherwise happy home. At first, it's just the jumpy flashlights of the police looking for Pass Law violators. Then it's a nasty arrest glimpsed through the slats of a drawn blind. Then the raw anger of a black African character. And then...
Well, I'm not going to ruin this piece for you. What can be said is that the central relationship, between Elizabeth Grace and her loving Xhosa nanny, Salamina, and Salamina's fiercely independent daughter Moliseng, is strikingly drawn and provides for a truly moving finale. Gien's story is filled with thrilling autobiographical intensity.
This is a one person show and naturally it lives or dies in the ability of the performer. In Sarah Agnew the Jungle has found the real deal. Dressed in a simple frock, and acting in front of a swing and a richly lit and gorgeously painted fabric (as always, the Jungle's designers – Joel Sass, Barry Browning and Amelia Cheever – do astonishing work), Agnew takes and holds the stage, her soft physical beauty neatly balanced by her wiry physicality. She quickly finds the essence of each character (there are 22) and as a result the play makes complete sense. This is no small achievement. Agnew's work is not perfection: her Elizabeth Grace is often overdone, played with an almost spastic gee-whiz energy that can become tiresome. More restraint might have better served the story. But this is a minor complaint. Agnew gives a bravura performance and she richly earned her standing ovation.
Right now our fair city is awash in one person shows – the Fringe. And The Syringa Tree is a revival; the play was done at the Jungle not so long ago. But don't let all this stop you from seeing this one. This is as good as one person shows get.
Location Info:
The Jungle Theater
Artist Info: The Jungle Theater
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