[[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Bethesda Rep’s The Rhythm of Mourning, written by Nate Borowski, Andrew Rudy Galindo, Michael William Gomez, Mack Ogden and Zoë Papia, directed by Andrew Rudy Galindo and Adam Holguin, and running through June 22.
All of us have experienced loss. Some more than others. Some close, some sudden, some harder to accept. So of course all of us would take this individual experience with us to a play about grief. And that is to be expected, perhaps even preferred by these wonderfully thoughtful writers of this mournfully beautiful exploration of one woman’s loss.
The Rhythm of Mourning really is exactly what its title describes. It follows a young woman as she grapples with the loss of her beloved brother from suicide. As she turns over the events in her mind, rediscovering old wounds and older purposes, fragments of her memory and her mind peel off…quite literally. They take on form and character and help her pass through this pain, a pain none of us would ever want to feel and yet one that many of us will.
This is not a simple play to describe. Set in a dance studio, on a bare stage, in an almost warehouse-like theatre. There is some movement, the woman is a dancer. But it’s not the center of this piece, which I loved actually. It doesn’t follow a direct path at all in fact, choosing instead to allow the unfolding of her journey. Gently at times and brutally at others. Like the way we blame ourselves, then sleep and then breathe again. That’s the ‘rhythm’ of it I suppose, not the dance so much. But the ebb and flow of heart and memory.
The characters that make up her breaking mind are powerful and truthful. They are all so different – male, female, small, large, soft and spiky, dark and light. It’s a very touching and heartfelt story and, as we find out more and more about the woman, her brother and their lives, we understand how terribly hard this must be for her. She has lost her ‘person.’ And he was the cause of it.
Suicide is a very particular kind of death and causes a very particular kind of grief. The blame isn’t on a disease, or a crash or a stranger’s anger or fate even. The blame…and there is always blame…is on the loved one and that must make it so much harder to reconcile.
But there is a path forward and this deeply moving and wonderfully acted play finds the light a little. Even the darker characters serve a hopeful purpose, bringing forth her anger and giving her a fighting chance.
Death is something we must face. It happens to us all, it affects every one of our lives in innumerable ways and as someone who has experienced deep and profound loss I can tell you it never leaves us. But there are ways to comfort each other and ourselves and there is a kind of peace to be found. One that’s worth fighting for.
The Rhythm of Mourning is a gorgeously strange and deeply intimate piece of theatre. One woman at the center with a dozen or more characters, all played by stirring, accomplished and very fine actors representing pieces of her grieving mind, trying to make sense out of the nonsensical.
It teases apart the reasons why we love and how utterly terrifying that can be. And yet we do it still, despite our fear and aware that at any moment we could lose them. Our vulnerability is what makes us humans and artists.
To create a play that explores both these aspects of ‘us’ in an unusual and yet somehow still very classical way is utterly sublime. Bravo!
Tickets:
At Stomping Ground LA:
https://ci.ovationtix.com/36818
At Hollywood Fringe Festival:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/9624
Where:
At Stomping Ground LA:
5453 Alhambra Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90032
Hollywood Fringe Festival at The Broadwater Main Stage:
The Broadwater (Main Stage)
1076 Lillian Way, Los Angeles, CA 90038
When:
At Stomping Ground LA:
- Fri, May 24th at 8:00PM (Preview)
- Sat, May 25th at 3:00PM (Preview)
- Sat, May 25th at 8:00PM, Opening Night with Champagne Reception to Follow
- Sun, May 26th at 3:00PM, Post-Show Discussion
- Thu, May 30th at 8:00PM
- Fri, May 31st at 8:00PM
Hollywood Fringe Festival at The Broadwater Main Stage:
- Thu, June 6th at 8:30PM (Fringe Preview)
- Thu, June 13th at 7:00PM
- Sat, June 15th at 4:30 PM
- Thu, June 20th at 10:30PM, Pay What You Can Night ($5/10/15)
- Sat, June 22nd at 5:30PM
The Team
Produced by Sahar Helmy and Kathryn Ludlam.
Casting by Shelby Mumford
The Cast
Featuring Bethesda Company members:
Nate Borowski
Andrew Rudy Galindo
Michael William Gomez
Mack Ogden
Zoë Papia
and Michael Thór
Joined by
Max Chester
Evan Lugo
Kimberly Singh
Raul Walder
Sophia Lau
Haley Bronzino
Kendra Chideya
and Megan Peck