In Upstream Theater’s unflinching season closer, a simple platform standing in for a sandbank, clusters of grass, a window fragment and long rolling clouds greet audiences walking into The Marcelle’s black box. But what plays out onstage is a surreal confrontation with a looming heartache that hangs over anyone who’s ever loved.
After washing up on an island after a brutal boating accident, Robyn (Lizi Watt) is primarily concerned with her girlfriend, Helen (Michelle Hand), and if she’s okay. Both of them seem to be in shock. Helen is soaking wet and surging with adrenaline at their survival while Robyn is disoriented and nauseous. How did they get here? Through their attempts to try to figure out exactly where they are and how they’ll find a way home, we get the sense that the island they’re marooned on is not exactly temporal.
 Helen (Michelle Hand) and Robyn (Lizi Watt). Photo credit: ProPhotoSTL.com |
Intrigued by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, playwright Zinnie Harris’s 90 or so minute one-act, originally premiering in 2017 as part of the Edinburgh International Festival, treads into perilous territory. The script’s conversational style might have been conspicuous with lesser actors, but Watt and Hand handle the dialogue with an organic credibility, and are easily convincing as a long-time couple - finishing each others’ sentences, musing over an imagined future, and later arguing and exchanging rebukes about missing phone numbers and squandered opportunities.
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| Helen (Michelle Hand) and Robyn (Lizi Watt). Photo credit: ProPhotoSTL.com |
Watt navigates Robyn’s fragmented thoughts and shattering hunches with expert pitch, and Hand’s performance as Helen vibrates with gusto, providing some welcomed wisecracks and an intriguing, complementary Yin to Watt’s Yang. They’re also both absorbing and ethereal as they take turns briefly embodying a mysterious third woman offstage with whom they interact.
Patrick Huber’s minimal set and David Schuman’s scenic painting effectively characterize this intangible realm, and Kristi Gunther’s restrained sound design fluctuates between a rhythmic seascape and the domestic recollections of an overflowing sink, playing well alongside Tony Anselmo’s gentle, mood-shifting lighting design. Under Larissa Lury’s direction, each movement and moment flow seamlessly into the next, and the shifts between fractured narration, genuine laughs and foreboding confusion are handled fluently.
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| Helen (Michelle Hand) and Robyn (Lizi Watt). Photo credit: ProPhotoSTL.com |
Heart-wrenching, hopeful, and bolstered by a superb cast and first-rate direction, Upstream’s production of Meet Me at Dawn is a beautifully realized requiem to love and loss. It’s at The Marcelle until the 27th.
MEET ME AT DAWN
Written by Zinnie Harris
Directed by Larissa Lury†
The Marcelle, 3310 Samuel Shepard Drive
through April 27 | tickets: $45 Adult, $40 Senior, $25 Student, April 17: $15
All shows 8 p.m. except matinees.
Cast
Helen: Michelle Hand*
Robyn: Lizi Watt*
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| Robyn (Lizi Watt). Photo credit: ProPhotoSTL.com |
Creative
Scenic Design: Patrick Huber
Costume Design: Lou Bird
Lighting Design: Tony Anselmo
Sound Design: Kristi Gunther
Properties: Rachel Seabaugh
Scenic Painter: David Schuman
Production Stage Manager: Patrick Siler*
Intimacy Coordinator: Jocelyn Padilla
Board Operator: Xander Huber
House Manager: Monica Roscoe
Assistant Stage Manager: Esmé Schuman
Production Manager: Gus Kickham
Technical Director: Brian Macke
Master Electrician: Tony Anselmo
Social Media: Mona Sabau
Photographer: ProPhotoSTL
Graphic Art/Website: Sleepy Kitty/Paige Brubeck
Program Edit: Madison Bouse
Tech Crew: Xander Huber
KAF Facilities: Emily Hoffman, Mike Bell
* Denotes member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of
Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States
† Associate member, Stage Directors and Choreographers Society
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