08-09-JR-TREEFALL

This futuristic cautionary tale could take place anywhere, but being set in the Pacific Northwest of the United States adds some poignancy being that many consider that area one of nature’s most beautiful creations. In this play, that area has been completely destroyed. Occasionally one of the majestic trees that used to fill the vast forest crashes down, probably because its roots have rotted and the weight is too much for the meager strands left anchoring to hold it. When trees fall, houses get crushed, shelters are flattened and people die. It’s on this world that may someday exist, that author Henry Murray brings three teen-agers into the remains of a house that has been ravaged by the residue of failed ecological experiments and political apathy and turns them loose to fend for survival in an almost feral existence. This is one of the most frightening plays of its genre to date. Murray frightens us by showing the disaster that indifference to ecological changes can bring, but more than that, he frightens us by showing that even at crucial times when survival depends on people joining together, basic human foils prevail and people die because of the greed, lust or apathy in others. In the thousands of years mankind has been evolving, some things have not changed at all.
Brian Pugach - West Liang	The three teen-age youths, August, Flynn and Craig, the youngest, have made a makeshift home and are learning to survive after having lost their parents and almost everyone around them. They have created a quasi family unit, where August role-plays the mother, Flynn the father and Craig is the young son who in reality is spoiled, needy and temperamental. His constant companion is a raggedy doll dressed like a bride and this becomes his conversation partner, his ward, and often his emotional release valve. The older boys roam nearby towns at night to avoid solar damage, foraging for food in abandoned malls and markets and during one of these excursions they stumble across another survivor – a young person like themselves who goes by the name of Bug.
Bug is a strange person, who seldom talks, stays alone, mistrusts all three and soon August discovers Bug’s secret. Bug is a girl! The precarious triangular infrastructure they had built suddenly disintegrates with jealousies, rivalries and lust, with sexuality suddenly taking a giant leap to the front of their concerns. Whatever life they had is no longer the same, and in a matter of days the fate of all four makes a complete turnabout leaving behind some tragic results. A couple of years ago we covered the work of West Liang as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and said he was electrifying in his performance. Here, as August, he is that and more. Explosive would be a better term as he portrays a temperamental person who turns emotions on a dime and who is both confused and excited discovering his virility. There are hints that he has been deeply scarred by abuse from the older Flynn, which explains his almost constant disgruntled attitude. Brian Norris is more tempered as Flynn, the oldest of the group. His character tries desperately to keep the group together as a family, but is not always sure how to bring this about. By assuming the reluctant leader role, Flynn also feels he is responsible for the individual failures of the others. He keeps trying, only to find his efforts bring the exact opposite of what he wished. Norris is both believable and sympathetic.
In direct contrast is the young Craig, played with annoying realism by Brian Pugach. His character is given to having dialogs with his doll in an ear piercing falsetto voice that accentuates the artificiality of the situation. Pugach is excellent as the needy, attention starved, precocious and infuriating pre-teen who almost always manipulates the others to cater to him one way or the other. You get the feeling that the cataclysmic events have caused deep psychological and emotional scars which not even a professional would be able to resolve. Pugach is the kind of actor you want to keep an eye on. This kid's work is way, way too advanced for his young age. One can only imagine where he'll be in 10 years or so.	Brian Pugach - Brian Norris - West Liang - Tania Verafield
Bug is definitely the catalyst in this story and as played by Tania Verafield, she causes the boys to redefine their roles. It isn’t that she does anything drastic. In fact, it’s more that she does almost nothing that is the cause of the chaos, because throughout her stay she keeps insisting she wants to be left alone, she wants to find a life of her own and she has no interest in developing any relationship with anyone. Little does she realize that her departure will cause a life changing event for everyone involved. No stranger to life changing roles, the last time we saw Tania was in Metamorphoses where her role of Myrrah also created scandalous results. The Rogue Machine is presenting this World Premiere in repertoire with Stop Kiss, another major hit for the company. Artistic Director John Perrin Flynn directs Treefall with characteristic precision, emphasizing a mood of chaotic doom from the environment and the characters. Adding to the effect is the spectacular scenic design by Stephanie Kerley Schwartz. Debris and waste combine in a morosely artistic blend spelling disaster and chaos around the group. When the dark shadowy lighting by Leigh Allen pokes its probing rays into the corners of the broken down house, we are given a chilling preview of what the future might hold for us if any of this ever comes to pass. Author Henry Murray has written in a promotional piece “this is the way the world ends . . .” Henry, we love your work, but we hope that this time you are wrong! Comments? Write to us at: Letters@ReviewPlays.Com Ticket information at: http://www.roguemachinetheatre.com/cs_treefall.html Performance runs through September 6, 2009.