Theater Review by Walter Murphy . . .
Tony Award winner Enda Walsh’s Safe House, now playing at St Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, is a sung-through musical about where safety and security could be. In the play, Walsh’s sole performer––an extraordinary Kate Gilmore as Grace––finds herself reliving events that led to her sleeping rough in an alley, surrounded by discarded items, where she is comfortable, vulnerable, and alone . . . by her own choice. The environment that Walsh creates is at times overwhelming due to the force of the multimedia employed, but at its core it’s about Grace and the life she finds herself in.
Written and directed by Walsh (Once), the 90-minute play is Grace’s thoughts, her remembrances, her experiences and how they formed her. There is no plot because thoughts happen randomly. The scenes shift from childhood to the present to her imagination to past lovers to family events. The song cycles, brilliantly composed by Anna Mullarkey, follow her thoughts and express her emotions. Although hopeful, she is frequently disappointed. She sings:
Trying to think the new thoughts, looking for the blue.
Waiting for the something, expecting nothing new,
We see and hear her childhood remembrances that explain her pain and withdrawal from her family. Her birthday parties from her youth to her young adulthood reveal a person regarded as different and perceived as The Princess. When she tries to become a princess, the fantasy is disappointing. She longs to return to a time and place where she felt safe, where she is alone and hidden.
At various times we hear her father’s concern and longing to help through periodic phone calls she makes to him. Clearly, she is cared about but is reluctant to return to the family.
In her street home she is a curiosity to locals who pass by and judge her. She is cautious because she is vulnerable.
At one point she even joins the audience and sings. She uses a child’s toy microphone and speaker to sing, a reminder of her childhood.
This is very much an Irish play with references to Ireland’s fascination with Eurovision, highlighting the 1988 contest held in Dublin and won by Celine Dion. Snippets of family dialogue are spoken in the Irish language. Fortunately, English translations are projected onto a back wall.
In closing, Grace finds a safe place as she sings and summarizes her search:
Not seeing the life we seek ‘til all is gone-it seems
For further the prize from reach that stayed in dreams.
Like other Walsh works, Safe House features exhaustive multimedia and staging. The stage design (Katie Davenport) adopts Walsh’s approach to his Rooms series, in which he creates 15-minute immersive environments. For example, in the work Middle Bedroom, a son caring for his ailing father spends his 15 minutes complaining about his neighbors and his father. There is no actor in the room, just a voice. The audience of maybe 12 members find themselves in the son’s bedroom with all his belongings for their inspection. If his harangue becomes tiring, one can sit on the bed and sort through his record collection, albums from the 70s and 80s, like a friend just hanging out.
In Safe House, screen projections, voiceovers, images, and videos created by videographer Jack Phelan, recreate Grace’s family interactions. Even though it is a solo performance, the production feels as if multiple characters inhabit the stage. Through Grace’s thoughts we recognize these characters as vivid parts of her memory. For instance, a young Grace makes multiple appearances on the screen. Grace’s grim siblings stare blankly from the screen as they mumble through “Happy Birthday.” Clearly, this was not a happy family.
Sound design by Helen Atkinson was insightful and appropriate to Grace’s thoughts. Gilmore’s powerful singing filled the theater, and incidental music pulsated percussively or serenely, depending on songs’ moods. Additionally, snippets of street conversations, passing cars (I think the “Dukes of Hazzard’s” car horn at one point), birds chirping, streams flowing, and street youths harassing her, added to the immersive quality of the production.
During one of the quiet moments, when Grace considers the serenity and vastness of the ocean, she sings:
Blue sea take me out of here
And give me something new.
As with his previous works, Walsh has created something new and exciting.
Safe House. Through March 2 at St Ann’s Warehouse (45 Water Street, in DUMBO’s Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn). www.stannswarehouse.org
Photos: Teddy Wolff
