by Ross Alan Bachelder
www.artsaplenty.me | Berwick, Maine
CRIES IN THE NIGHT, now through November 5 at Footlights Theatre in Falmouth, Maine, is so frightfully entertaining, it’s SCARY! Why sit around and watch stale reruns when you can come down to Footlights — conveniently located just outside the city of Portland — and see damn good theatre, expertly directed and skillfully performed, live onstage?
And the good news for me, both as a theatre enthusiast and fine and performing arts reviewer, is that I was spooked out from start to finish — from hair-raising scream to shattering glass and back again — by playwright Paul Elliott’s fast-moving, expertly structured play. And given that it’s being staged at the height of the Halloween Season, at one of Maine’s most beloved, consistently praised small-venue theaters, who could ask for anything more?
Cries in the Night is not the usual Halloween fare, and yet it has all of the elements that make for a perfect night out at this time of the year, when leaves are falling, the nights are cold, and Darkness reigns. It’s All Hallows Eve, with not one but a series of plot twists tailor-made for the serious-minded, socially observant theatre lover.
Yes, it’s a ghost story. And yes, in a harmless, skin-crawling, exhilarating way, it’s sure to scare the pants — and probably more — off your trembling, still-living selves. But Cries in the Night is also a multi-layered look inside the American family — especially the formidably difficult but exceedingly rewarding fine art of parenting, with all of the exhilarating triumphs and crushing defeats that come with the package.
The plot of this play, on first consideration, seems to be pretty formulaic: “Vickie and Neal,” according to the online notes about the play, “are starting over in a new town and a new home. But what they find inside their house is even more terrifying than anyone could imagine. Cries in the Night is a ghost story with secrets to be solved that will scare even the most fearless audience member.”
But then come the twists! They’re surprising. They’re sophisticated. They’re socially relevant, disturbing, and poignant — and yet in the spirit of Halloween, Scary as hell! It’s my job as reviewer to whet your appetite for this play. It is NOT my job to feed you the plot twists. It’s YOUR job to come and see the play, then unravel its mysteries and feel the triumph of discovery.
Incidentally, the play is not just delightfully scary — and surprisingly insightful in regard to the human condition — it’s also subtly, unpretentiously funny! So for those rare moments when you’re not gripped with spine-tingling terror, sit back, relax, and enjoy a good, horror-laced moment of laughter. ’Tis the Season!
And now, the actors:
Mark Calkins (as Neal, the husband in this troubled home) does a fine job depicting a man in constant verbal combat with his wife, who’s finding it nearly impossible to get beyond the tragic loss of their son. He covers the full range of emotions — negative, positive, and everything in between — that one would expect from him under the circumstances, and does it with solid stage chops and admirable consistency.
Victoria Machado (as Neal’s spirited wife, Vickie) is equally, fully and impressively in control of her role, revealing the depth of her love for her lost son while simultaneously struggling to make her husband understand why ‘moving on’ has become so difficult, if not impossible, for her to do. Ms. Machado exhibited a remarkably extensive vocabulary of polished, convincing stage mannerisms — hands, face, and all-around stage movement — at every turn in her performance.
Nathan White (as Vickie’s gay college chum Kevin, whose friendship with her endures, sometimes to the exasperation of her jealous husband), does a superb job of showing us his affection for Vickie, his respect for her marriage, and the preciousness of their friendship. His command of humor was really quite masterful, and for me, he ended up being a more than worthwhile play-within-a-play, because of both his obvious skill as an actor and the playwright’s equally obvious skill in presenting him to audiences in all his comic, mixed-message grandeur.
Pam Mutty (as Virginia, the loveably eccentric, engagingly empathetic neighbor who over and over again has a hard time arriving at the appropriate time and must finally come to terms with her own lingering familial tragedy) has taken on what I consider to be the most difficult role in Elliott’s play. It’s never easy for an actor to play a character so obviously meant to be older, onstage, than she is — especially without descending into stereotypical mannerisms — and yet Ms. Mutty does it with impressive, full-throttle skill and heartwarming energy. A tip of the stein for beer-loving Virginia!
Paige Scala (as Angie, the tormented ghost figure who artfully, habitually scares the hell out of its inhabitants without ever cracking a smile) is perfectly cast as an enchantingly sweet and yet eternally melancholy young girl who cannot find peace in her afterlife and decides instead to find her pleasure in repeatedly inflicting domestic chaos on the Living.
Tsk-tsk: what might Angie’s mother have felt about her daughter’s less than admirable Afterlife behavior? Stay tuned; you just might find out. (But of course you will have to attend the play, won’t you!)
Ms. Scala’s spot-on performance as the appearing-then-disappearing apparition is all the more remarkable when one considers that she is a mere 16 years of age and is currently enrolled at Casco Bay High School in Portland. Already, Paige Scala — Remember that name! — hasn’t the ghost of a chance of failing to be cast in future productions, wherever a young, naturally gifted, emotionally versatile actor is needed. How proud her classmates and teachers must be of her!
The actors in Cries in the Night were altogether a fine group of thespians, but without the skillful direction and start-to-finish involvement of Michael J. Tobin, Footlights’ esteemed Head Honcho, the play would not have come so entirely, artfully together. Tobin is also responsible for the set, the lighting, and the sound for this production — most remarkably his wise, well-informed choice of the incidental music — and his hard-earned expertise in every phase of professional theatre was visible in every nook and cranny of the performance I saw.
—Ross Alan Bachelder, www.artsaplenty.me | Berwick, Maine
CRIES IN THE NIGHT runs October 20th through November 5th, 2022, at Footlights Theatre in Falmouth, Maine. Showtimes are Thursdays 7pm, Fridays 7:30pm, and Saturdays 2pm & 7:30pm. Tickets: www.thefootlightstheatre.com