There are all kinds of solo performances. Some are musical, some are comedic, some dramatic. It takes a certain bravery to undertake the endeavor. A few I have seen were ill-conceived, an embarrassment with friends of the performer cheering them on. Others are okay, mildly entertaining, enough to give it a positive review. Some others might be given a really good nod, a thumbs up. And then there is the extraordinary category. The brilliant Irish phenom, Pat Kinevane leaps to mind. In that category, writer/performer Rachel Parker must be added. The Wolfe and the Bird, from lights up to curtain call, this play and this performer are as good as it gets. Brilliant!
On a bare stage outfitted with only a dresser, a chair, a desk and a lamp, the actor creates a fully realized young girl who moves from childhood to maturity in a home fraught with parental danger. She has a certain brilliance that is recognized only by a single teacher, Mr. Schroeder (voiced by Phil Ward). Her mother, Gladys (voiced by Silvie Zamora) is an emotional horror, who takes out her bitter angst on her daughter Rachel.
The opening scene gripped this audience member immediately. On a back road in the dead of night, Gladys forces her daughter out of the car using only sneering spoken commands. Rachel pleads, cries, begs. The mother drives off in the darkness. Down the road, she waits as Rachel hurries to catch up. The young girl gets in the car. The ride continues home. This audience member sits stunned.
Rachel Parker. Photo by Joshua Stern.
As Rachel grows up in a home with a seething, self-loathing mother and an alcoholic dad, Matt (Phil Ward), she moves through school and shows brightness. She is a good student, exceptional really. She takes ballet lessons, gets involved in theatre, edits the high school yearbook. All the while the bitterness continues in the home.
Don’t think that the play is all grimness. The progress of Rachel has joy and humor as well. Laughter abounds. The play has powerful emotional content that grips the audience, which leapt to their feet and to give her a sustained, well deserved ovation.
Direction by Alina Phelan is impeccable. Other characters are voiced by James Heaney, Dagney Kerr, Ivory Tiffin, and Madeleine Townsend. Lighting is by Matt Richter, with sound design by Stephen Epstein. The stage is deftly managed by Kelly Egan.
The Wolfe and the Bird runs at The Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose in Los Angeles, through October 10 with performances on Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays 2pm. On October 9 only the show is at 2pm with no evening performance. It is not to be missed.
Paul Myrvold's Theatre Notes 