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The Post-Standard News
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January 27, 2007 'Diviners' delves into depths of water's meaning Neil Novelli, Contributing Writer James Leonard, Jr.'s play "The Diviners," set in a dirt-poor Indiana town in the midst of the Great Depression, is a beguiling blend of gritty realism and the surreal, the earthbound with the spiritual, and innocence with disillusion. Appleseed Productions, with Jon Wilson directing, gives it a compact and focused performance. One meaning of "diviner," of course, is a person who can locate water, and that's a precious commodity in a farm town. But for a traumatized boy named Buddy (Navzad N. Dabu), water is his greatest terror. He once nearly drowned, and his mother drowned saving him. Trying to help Buddy are his sister Jennie Mae (Katelyn Remington) and C.C. Showers (Joe Pierce), a fallen-away preacher. The characters are all plain, but along with sometimes earthy humor, playwright Leonard gives them symbolic dimensions, often tipping that with names, such as Showers. The story could slip over into sentimentality and stereotyping, but Wilson and a strong cast tend to hold those to a minimum. The pace, though, is sometimes too level, one scene pitched about the same as the preceding one. Dabu does powerful work as Buddy, and Remington is a sweet, provident Jennie Mae. Pierce plays Showers with overtones of a benign snake-oil salesman. When you first see Buddy's father, you think "lout," but John Brackett, a resourceful actor, shows the many sides of an essentially good man. Wilson's spare set catches the sweep of Indiana sky, with simply designed platforms creating the town and - the place of danger - the river. Copyright © 2007 The Post-Standard. |
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