A STEADY RAIN. Written by Keith Huff. Directed by Adrian Collins, with Nicholas Pauling and Brent Palmer. At the Alexander Upstairs theatre until Saturday. TRACEY SAUNDERS reviews
YOU step straight in to A Steady Rain the moment you enter the theatre. The dense smoke makes finding your seat an interesting endeavour and once you are seated orientating yourself requires a few moments. During the performance the smoke slowly lifts and although the stage and room clears, everything else becomes murkier.
Collins has found a cracker of a script and directed it with a sharpness and clarity that allows the text to take centre stage. The sense of place is established without complex backdrops or set changes. A table and two chairs, two voices and magnificent lighting pull you into a police interrogation room and a suburban home in Chicago before throwing you out onto its mean streets, taking you under a highway flyover and down a dank and foul alley.
You meet Joey (Nicholas Pauling) and Denny (Brent Palmer), quintessential Chicago cops. You will recognize them from well-thumbed crime novels from yester year, or more recently, television series which feed our fascination with the working lives of the men and women in blue. The two men have been friends since childhood and the bond continues as they both join the police force. The characters transcend the familiar stereotypes of the Irish and the Italian policemen as they are defined by more than their nationalities.
The pair seem to hurtle from one disaster to the next and the calamities that befall them do require a stretching of the imagination. Ironically the most unbelievable story line of the script is one based on true events. You may be surprised at which one it is. There is enough action to satisfy any adrenalin junkie, although the steady beat at the centre of the play is the relationship between the two men.
Danny explains it “Hey, you got a problem with the bottle, I got a problem with my mouth. We’re helping each other out, right? Right? We’re gonna be detectives together someday, Starsky and Hutch.” The pair bear little resemblance to the clean-cut stars of the 70s television series with language and violent imagery that would earn an NSFW rating in most polite company. This is a gritty crime story that doesn’t shy away from the harsh reality of being employed as a policeman. It is also a love story, a story of friendship and the desperate desire of a man to protect his family in whatever manner he sees fit. The narrative is bleak, dark and desperate, even the love interest is slightly sordid. Nothing is simple and just when you think you have your handle on the plot it swerves a little, catches you off guard and you have to try and steady yourself.
Stories of police corruption, brutality and misdemeanours are a regular staple of our media landscape, but seldom do we see the faces behind the deeds. What makes a policeman bend the rules or cross the thin blue line?
A Steady Rain presents two very human and fallible men with police careers rather than cardboard cut-out policemen. They operate in a world “bubbling over with bloodshed” and where men “bury bodies by the droves under their suburban houses.” In a climate such as this is deviance so unexpected?
The script is meaty and dense and superbly crafted but without the cast it would just be an Elmore Leonard type thriller.
Pauling has had an extraordinary year, beginning with his role in Blue/Orange. Recently in Epstein as the manager of the Beatles he delivered a fine British accent. He tops that with his command of the Irish/Chicago lilt so essential to this piece. With simple gestures he characterizes his inner turmoil. He rubs his head, wiping his scalp as if to erase thoughts and actions to no avail. He has created a character that you will love and hate and finally hate that you love.
While Pauling has performed in several dramas Palmer is more familiar for his comedic talents. His comic sensibility gives him the ability to raise a laugh in the darkest of dialogue, but it is his dramatic performance that is top drawer. His performance matches Pauling’s beat for beat. His brooding and intense monologues hit you with a relentless staccato force. While each performance is excellent on its own it is the synergy and electric energy between the pair that makes this a compelling piece of drama.
When the play was performed on Broadway in 2009 it broke the record for the highest weekly gross taking of a non-musical production and earned more than a million dollars in its first week. The roles were played by Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, who made his Broadway debut. While I have no doubt that that was a remarkable performance Pauling and Palmer give them a run for their money. At the end I was reeling. Huff's ability to pack so much action into 60 minutes is a remarkable feat of writing. For the actors to deliver it with equal intensity and emotion is as remarkable.
l Tickets: Door R90, R80 online. Book: www.alexanderbar.co.za