@ Tron Theatre, Glasgow until Sat 7 Feb 2015
Makeshift Broadcast’s production of When the Rain Stops Falling, directed by Katherine Nesbitt, is an ambitious, multi-generational story that examines the corrosive and insidious nature of abuse. With 10 characters, and some actors taking on multiple roles, the play covers a plethora of heavy issues such as abuse, relationship woes between parents and children and partners, mental illness and environmental apocalypse. Crisscrossing the globe and hopping through time and memories this production does not do Andrew Bovell’s award-winning play any favours. Despite the grand designs of the show, this performance in the studio space at the Tron is a lethargic and amateur.
“I am fascinated by the past!” declares one of the play’s two characters named Gabriel in the first of many beleaguered monologues. Beginning in Alice Springs in 2039, we are hurled through 80 years of family turmoil, between 50s and 80s London, the Australian coast in the 80s, contemporary Adelaide, and eventually Alice Springs in the future. Whatever compelling ideas Bovell had to unpack on the issue of the past winds up lost amidst uneven performances. There are a handful of standout turns from Camille Marmie, Alan Mackenzie and Clare Marcie, but the theatre school blocking and sound design, which feels lifted from a radio drama, is decidedly uninspired.
When The Rain Stops Falling is peppered with elements of melodrama and dystopian fable. It wants to challenge the idea of love, regret and remorse. It asks, how do you become a better person? How can you rise above the mistakes of your parents? How can you do good? But what should have been taut felt flabby. Seeing the success of the play elsewhere – it won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards in 2008, while also having and a number of successful runs in Australia, America and England – it was a shame to see this under-directed production lacking the urgency to tackle the issues at the heart of it.