‘THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA’: (left to right) Nancy Allsop, Nicola Turner, Sophia Ally & Lara McDonnell. Photo: Joan Marcus.

THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA
A new play by Jez Butterworth
Directed by Sam Mendes
Through December 22, 2024
Broadhurst Theatre
235 West 44^th Street
https://thehillsofcalifornia.com/

By Scott Harrah

British playwright Jez Butterworth has written stage sagas about England (Jerusalem) and Ireland (The Ferryman) and now he takes on America via the elusive dreams of a widow and single mother, Veronica Webb (Laura Donnelly). She hopes to turn her four daughters in Blackpool, UK into singing stars across the Atlantic in the poignant epic The Hills of California.

America is a running theme in The Hills of California. Veronica owns a struggling hotel in Blackpool called Sea View (although it has no view of the sea) and the rooms are named after U.S. states like Mississippi. The story is told in both the past and present, depicting two eras: 1976, during a summer heatwave, when three of the Webb sisters have gathered at their childhood home as their mother lies dying of cancer upstairs; and 1955, when Veronica is trying desperately to book her daughters as a singing quartet styled after the Andrews Sisters.

Most of the story, however, is told through the eyes of the sisters. Jill (Helena Wilson) is the only one who is not married and still lives at home. Her sisters include Gloria (Leanne Best) and Ruby (Ophelia Lovibond). They are waiting for their sister Joan (incredibly played by Laura Donnelly in a dual role)—the only one to move away from England—to arrive on a flight from California. The siblings are concerned about their mother on her deathbed, and anxious about whether Joan will even show up. Joan has been estranged from the family for more than 20 years.

Back in 1955, Veronica insists on getting her daughters to polish up their sister act. However, after a visit from Luther St. John (David Wilson Barnes), a Hollywood agent, Veronica and her daughters learn that Americans have moved on from the Andrews Sisters. The girls perform such oldies as “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” and “Straighten Up and Fly Right.” The play’s title is derived from “The Hills of California,” an old B side by Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers, a song the Webb sisters sing as an ode to the Golden State.

Fast-forward to 1976. Jill is a long-suffering spinster who is devoted to her dying mother.  Gloria is in an often-volatile marriage to her husband and has two kids, while Ruby, despite a great singing voice, never pursued show business, is emotionally fragile and plagued with anxiety.

Sister Joan finally arrives from America in a wave of cigarette smoke and hippie glamour. She now speaks in an American twang and seems like an outsider in her childhood home. She recorded an album in the States shortly after she moved across the Atlantic, but soon spiraled into a life of substance abuse. The true fireworks in the show truly explode toward the end of the nearly three-hour drama. The chemistry amongst the four sisters is amazing, and one really feels all the pathos and grief they are all experiencing about the impending death of their mother.

Director Sam Mendes extracts outstanding performances from the gifted ensemble. The Hills of California is a story of women in crisis and the family ties of sisters united in grief. The performances of Ms. Wilson as Jill, Ms. Best as Gloria, Ms. Lovibond as Ruby and Ms. Donnelly as both Veronica and Joan are consistently moving and packed with emotion. David Wilson Barnes is fittingly direct and menacing as American show-business agent Luther St. John.

The actresses playing the younger versions of the sisters, Nicola Turner as “Young Jill,” Nancy Allsop as “Young Gloria,” Sophia Ally as “Young Ruby” and Lara McDonnell as “Young Joan” are all first rate. These young women truly flesh out the sad backstory of the Webb sisters in the 1950s with sincerity and a sense of wistfulness.

Unless one is familiar with British regional dialects, the show can be challenging at times, especially in the beginning when the characters speak in rapid-fire Lancashire accents. It is hard to say whether the issue might possibly be resolved with tweaking the actors’ microphones but fortunately one gets used to the dialect as the story progresses.

The Hills of California is a challenging drama, but one ultimately worth the long running time. It is one of Jez Butterworth’s best plays yet. It is as complex as The Ferryman but more simplistic than Jerusalem, and is ultimately a timeless tale of grief and the ups and downs a family experiences throughout the years.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 14, 2024
Reviewed at October 8, 2024 press performance

‘THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA’: (left to right): Lara McDonnell, Laura Donnelly & Sophia Ally. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA’:(left to right) Helena Wilson, Laura Donnelly & Ophelia Lovibond. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA’: (left to right) Lara McDonnell, Nancy Allsop & Sophia Ally. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA’: Laura Donnelly. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘THE HILLS OF CALIFORNIA’: Helena Wilson & Ophelia Lovibond. Photo: Joan Marcus.

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‘THE FERRYMAN’: (left to right) Willow McCarthy, Brooklyn Shuck, Genevieve O’Reilly & Matilda Lawler. Photo: Joan Marcus

THE FERRYMAN
Written by Jez Butterworth
Directed by Sam Mendes
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
242 West 45th Street
(212-239-6200), www.theferrymanbroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

Jez Butterworth’s third Broadway drama is also his most provocative. The Ferryman, which recently opened on Broadway after an Olivier Award-winning, sold-out run in London’s West End, is a complicated epic. With a running time of more than three hours, complete with actors speaking in thick Irish brogues, a storyline filled with Anglo-Irish political themes, multiple characters and a plot that sometimes delves into the metaphysical, it is not for the fainthearted or those seeking a light evening of theater. However, for those familiar with the past conflict between the Irish Republican Catholics and U.K.-loyal Protestants in Northern Ireland during the late 20^th century, Mr. Butterworth’s saga is a multi-layered, searing reminder of centuries-old animosities, exquisitely directed and produced.

The Anglo-Irish conflict in Northern Ireland, often called “the Troubles,” was at its worst in 1981 when the story takes place. As the play opens, three IRA goons are shown in a rural area of Derry ambushing a priest, Father Horrigan (Charles Dale). The leader Muldoon (Stuart Graham) tells the priest to keep quiet about a well-preserved corpse of the late Seamus Carney recovered in a nearby bog. This proves to be troubling because the priest knows the Carney family well.

The remainder of the show is set in the home of the Carney family farm in rural County Armagh. Quinn Carney (Paddy Considine) lives there with his ill wife Mary (Genevieve O’Reilly) and seven children, along with sister-in-law and Seamus’ widow Caitlin (Laura Donnelly), Uncle Patrick (Mark Lambert), cranky, chain-smoking Aunt Patricia (Dearbhla Molloy) and wheelchair-bound elderly Aunt Maggie Far Away (Fionnula Flanagan). The Carneys are preparing for the harvest while news of 10 Republican prisoners on a hunger strike disturbs the family, especially since British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refuses to capitulate to any of the IRA’s demands. Father Horrigan arrives to speak in private to Caitlin about the grim news of her husband’s body being found after a decade. When her son Oisin (Rob Malone) eavesdrops and hears the truth about his father, the rest of the play becomes a guessing game of what the ramifications might be. Should the English be blamed? The IRA? Others?

Mr. Butterworth weaves a complex spell in a story featuring more than 20 characters, a live goose and rabbit, a real infant, Irish dancing, revelry and pathos. Granted, some of what is presented here seems riddled in Irish clichés—drinking, quarreling, quoting literature and anti-English diatribes—but the narrative is often compelling and there is a haunting sincerity to the characters and their predicament. Rob Howell’s rustic set is all too real and the performances are consistently outstanding. Paddy Considine is first rate as patriarch Quinn, as is Laura Donnelly as the long-suffering Caitlin. Both Mr. Considine and Ms. Donnelly have the most difficult tasks in the story, displaying a wide range of emotions from joy to tragedy as the tale unfolds. In addition, the supporting cast’s performances are some of the show’s greatest assets, particularly Fionnula Flanagan as Aunt Maggie Far Away.  When she breaks out of her mental fog to deliver a soliloquy about the one true love who always eluded her, it’s one of the true show-stopping moments of The Ferryman. Justin Edwards is also noteworthy with his portrayal of the awkward English farmhand and longtime family friend, Tom Kettle.

Director Sam Mendes brilliantly directs the amazing ensemble of actors, which could not have been easy considering the many dialects depicted here. The Ferryman might be a hard sell to American audiences unfamiliar with the intricacies of Irish history and conflicts, but beneath the political veneer, Mr. Butterworth’s epic has all the elements of a great tragedy, centered on a family slowly losing everything, from love to trust and hope.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 25, 2018
Reviewed at October 24, 2018 press performance.

‘THE FERRYMAN’: (left to right) Laura Donnelly, Genevieve O’Reilly, Sean Frank Coffey & Paddy Considine. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: (left to right) Niall Wright, Matilda Lawler, Justin Edwards, Mark Lambert, Fra Fee & Willow McCarthy. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: Laura Donnelly. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: (left to right) Fionnula Flanagan & Mark Lambert. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: The cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: Paddy Considine. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: (left to right) Fra Fee, Tom Glynn-Carney & Conor MacNeill. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: Genevieve O’Reilly & Sean Frank Coffey. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: (left to right) Carla Langley, Brooklyn Shuck, Willow McCarthy, Matilda Lawler, Tom Glynn-Carney & Rob Malone. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: (left to right) Glenn Spears, Charles Dale, Dean Ashton & Stuart Graham. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: Glenn Spears & Paddy Considine. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: (left to right) Willow McCarthy, Brooklyn Shuck & Dearbhla Molloy. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘THE FERRYMAN’: The company. Photo: Joan Marcus

The post ‘The Ferryman’: Epic of Irish pathos & politics appeared first on StageZine.

DOWN BY ‘THE RIVER’: Hugh Jackman as The Man & Laura Donnelly as The Other Woman. Photo: Richard Termine

THE RIVER
Written by Jez Butterworth
Directed by Ian Rickson
Through February 8, 2015
Circle in the Square Theatre
1633 Broadway
(212-239-6200), http://www.theriveronbroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

You’ve never seen Hugh Jackman like this.   Some fans of the Aussie superstar—famous for everything from “Wolverine” movies to such stage credits as The Boy from Oz, A Steady Rain and his one-man show Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway—might not know quite what to think of Mr. Jackman here, in his most austere role to date, playing a man who doesn’t sing and isn’t exactly charismatic. Jez Butterworth’s The River is a follow-up to the transatlantic sensation Jerusalem and was produced in London at the Royal Court in 2012, with Dominic West in the lead.

Jerusalem won star Mark Rylance a Tony Award, but it was full of English folklore, symbolism, esotericisms and colloquialisms and, therefore, not an easy show for American audiences to comprehend. The same could be said about The River, but the difference is it is only 85 minutes long.

On the surface, this is a bare-bones show, set in a rustic log cabin on a cliff above the eponymous river. Mr. Jackman plays The Man, a brooding fly-fisherman who likes to wax poetic about sea trout, which can only be caught once a year on a night when the moon cannot be seen. In the opening scenes, Cush Jumbo is The Woman, apparently his girlfriend. She’s the type of woman who demands that he watch a sunset with her, and when she asks him to describe it, he spouts florid gibberish in a derisive tone, “Trails of apricot, feathering out through blue, dark blue, and aquamarine to an iris ring of obsidian and above the Evening Star.”

In no time, this seemingly simplistic play gets confusing.   After a nighttime fishing trip, we see The Man on the phone to the police, reporting a woman gone missing. The Other Woman (Laura Donnelly) walks through the door, and The Man quickly hangs up the phone. Is his girlfriend back? Or is this someone else entirely? This is the first of many twists that tell the convoluted back story of the reclusive man and his troubled love life. We get the sense that these two women, exchanging places in certain scenes, are part of a string of many lady loves, all of whom The Man brings to the cabin each year.

The River is both a thriller and a parable, depending on how one interprets it. It’s highbrow, heady stuff, complete with references to William Butler Yeats’ poem “The Song of the Wandering Aegus” (an entire copy is included as an insert in the Playbill, just in case you forgot each stanza from your 19^th Century British and Irish Poetry course in college).

When this show opened two years ago in London, the British critics showered it with superlatives. Hype seems to follow any British production when it “crosses the Pond” to Broadway, but without Hugh Jackman as the headliner, it is unlikely The River would be the American blockbuster it has already become.

The River lacks the quirkiness of Jerusalem, and isn’t nearly as compelling, but that will not matter to the people that have paid top dollar for tickets just to see Mr. Jackman. He immerses himself into the character with conviction, and volumes could likely be written about the symbolism of him cleaning and gutting a fish. It is the sort of hyper masculine lyricism that was a recurring theme in Ernest Hemingway novels, but something rarely seen in contemporary British theater. Does The Man view his female conquests like the sea trout he loves to catch? Let’s leave the allegorical parts of the story open to audience interpretation.

Mr. Jackman is supported with first-rate performances by Ms. Donnelly and Ms. Jumbo. It is worth noting that Ms. Donnelly is the only cast member who appeared in the 2012 London production and reportedly rallied to bring the show to Broadway, and she is dynamic in every scene.

Ian Rickson directs everyone with the perfect sense of tension needed, as Mr. Butterworth’s action teases the audience. Is this a ghost story? Or is it a Gothic spine-chiller, a sort of macho variation of something by the Bronte sisters for the stage? The River will leave many impressions. Some may find it overly poetic and pretentious, some might be confused, while others will appreciate Mr. Butterworth’s gift for ornate language and dialogue. Regardless, The River is destined to become one of the most-talked-about dramas of the season.

HUGH JACKMAN AS THE MAN: Aussie actor stars in Jez Butterworth’s ‘The River.’ Photo: Richard Termine

ORIGINAL LONDON CAST MEMBER: Laura Donnelly (top) was in the 2012 production at the Royal Court Theatre & pushed for the show to come to Broadway with Hugh Jackman (below) in the lead. Photo: Richard Termine

BRITISH HIT ARRIVES ON BROADWAY: Hugh Jackman & Cush Jumbo as The Woman in ‘The River.’ Photo: Richard Termine

GHOST STORY OR GOTHIC THRILLER? Hugh Jackman (left) & Cush Jumbo in ‘The River.’ Photo: Richard Termine

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 16, 2014
Reviewed at press performance on November 15, 2014

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