Review by Ron Fassler . . .
The one time I attended Scotland’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival was forty years ago. I saw play after play and was charmed by much of the theatre, though a bit surprised that a lot of it was on a somewhat amateur level. So, when a play with the stamped approval from the festival arrives in New York (as many do), touting rave reviews, forgive me for being a little skeptical, even if open to being charmed. Brian Watkins’ Weather Girl, which opened tonight at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, arrives after winning top awards at Edinburgh this past October such as the BBC Writers Award and the Lustrum Award, given to the most “unforgettable” or most “memorable” show. While there, several U.S. buyers sought the rights to further develop Weather Girl into a series. Netflix won out, certainly hoping for the same kind of splash as when it adapted Baby Reindeer into a long-from series, with Richard Gadd’s one-man Edinburgh play sweeping last year’s Emmys. Also not to be forgotten is when the relatively unknown Phoebe Waller-Bridge brought Fleabag to the festival in 2013, then sold it as series a short time later. That resulted in its creator signing a three-year deal with Amazon in 2019 worth $60 million. Only time will tell how things may work out between Netflix and Weather Girl.
In the meantime, St. Ann’s is offering this 70-minute version in its original form and I’m glad I didn’t know its prior history to avoid expectations. Instead, I was surprised and swept up by the storytelling on display; a briskly paced drama with loads of comedy that can only be described as exhilarating, especially as enacted by Julia McDermott, in a star-making performance.
McDermott, so good in the Playwrights Horizons production of Will Arbery’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning(2019), is a revelation here. As the title character, she delivers her monologue with astounding speed and clarity, changing tempers so quickly as to produce whiplash. She is the playwright’s partner, and the symbiotic nature of their relationship is onstage plain for all to see. Watkins is also the author of Epiphany (2022), a deep and probing play that was given an expert production by Lincoln Center Theater. Weather Girl’s director, Tyne Rafaeli, another talent whose prior work has filled me with admiration, is responsible for last season’s Becoming Eve, which played an all-too brief run at the Abrons Arts Center, part of the historic Henry Street Settlement on the lower East Side. These three artists, working at full throttle here, have together produced a marvelous piece of theatre that seemingly excited every member of the audience I viewed it with in a palpable way.
What Watkins is writing about is nothing less than the future of our planet. Not only the dire crisis of climate change but, more importantly, what we’re going to do about it. The play’s solo character is Stacey Gross, a blonde and effusive weather girl by trade, smiling through her morning reports about how unbearably hot it is in Fresno, California. But her mask is wearing thin and when it drops, she hits a bottom that is shocking in its swift decent. Told with enough humor to keep things from becoming too serious that an audience might want to flee for the exits, what we witness is nothing less than a nervous breakdown of a performance that never feels forced or gratuitous. That is not only testimony to the strength of Watkins’ writing, but to McDermott’s and Rafaeli’s instinctive work as well.
On a bare stage with just a few props that make it seem like much of the story is taking place in a TV studio even when it isn’t, scenic designer Isabella Byrd has made things easy for McDermott to navigate with the actress utilizing just about every spare inch of the claustrophobic space. McDermott is aided by Byrd’s lighting, which she also designed, and that shifts with the actress’s every mood. Top-notch sound is delivered by Kieran Lucas and Rachel Dainer-Best’s solo costume is praiseworthy; a distinctive red and pink ensemble with enough flowing freedom for McDermott to spin about the stage with near-balletic style.
In his program notes, Watkins describes the play as “a love letter to California.” Written two years ago, it now sadly has an all-too relevant resonance since the horrific fires earlier this year that destroyed huge swaths of Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and Malibu. In addition, Watkins keenly states that it’s perhaps in our best interest “to simply marvel at the ground beneath our feet.” As he eloquently puts it: “We haven’t just run out of continent, we’ve adopted habits that devour it. When you run out of earth, perhaps the most natural thing to do is look up and pray.”
I’m always of the hope that when I enter a theatre (a church, a temple) that my prayers will be answered and I am treated to a transcendent experience. Happily, Brian Watkins, Julia McDermott and Tyne Rafaeli have provided just such a time. A startling package of minimalism with maximum results, Weather Girl delivers.
Weather Girl is at St. Ann’s Warehouse, 45 Water Street, Brooklyn in a limited engagement now through October 12th. For ticket information, please visit: https://stannswarehouse.org/show/weather-girl/
Photos by Emilio Madrid.
