Deferred Dreams Explode with Life- and Possibly Death-Alterraing Impact in Playwright Zona Howard’s Blistering New Drama “Bust.”
With a story that vers from comedy to tragedy to “Black Mirror” -esque otherworldly plans, the world premiere co-productive between atlanta theater and the goodman theater the wages of Ragteous Rage A Black Family Trying to CONT. in the Deep South.
Directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz and Running Through May 18, “Bust” punches deep into the Physical and emotional devastation that invariably results when all-consuming anger has no outlet.
But “bust” is no one-note rage-a-thon. The Production Also Shows the Alchemic Power of A Tight-COMMUNITY Determined to Protect Its Own, this if it means stepping into unknown realms beyond plans. “Bust” (the title references to moving from one World Plane to Another) is Also Wildly, Incongruously Funny and Often Downright Farcical.
The full Magical Realism-Where the Immutable Laws of Earthly Flora, Fauna, Life, Death, Physics and Gravity No Longer Apply-With Kitchen-Sink Realism. “
Bust “doesn’t success on all fronts. The characters songs FEEL LIKE AVARTS RATHER THAN MULTI-LEARED HUMANS. BUOYED BY A full-throttle cast,” bust “plunges the audience into thorny, volatile situations, bey in parking lots, Classrooms or history.
ITS impossible to describe “bust” beyond itond it first hilarious/terrifying/shocking scnene with the Major spoiler that the full setting.
Set in Present-Day Huntsville, Alabama, “Bust” Begins as Retta (Caroline Stefanie Clay) SITS ON HER BALCONY GISSIPING ABOUT THE NEGHBORS AND THE DOINGS ON THE STREET BELOW.
When she sees policy pulling up Behind Mr. Randall Woods (Keith Randolph Smith), A Senior Citizen and Longime Resident of the Complex Apartment, Retta’s Exposition-By-Phone Call Moves from humoring, to direct, to freaked-out disbelief.
AS RETTA’S HUSBAND REGGIE (Raymond Anthony Thomas) and Their Grandson Trent (Cecil Blutcher) Watch, The Police Demand Randall Leave His Car. The cops pull a gun. The situation Feels All Too Familiar. What Happens Next is Unexpect and SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE. Nor the story burrs from apart to the classroom to the positionible wormhole in the space/time continuum, “bust” is as provocative and compiling.
Trent’s Experiences sit at the Heart of “Bust.” A High School Student in Possession of A Recording of the Incident, which Huntsville Police Are Desperate to Destroy, Trent Becomes A Heroic Figure As “Bust” Speeds Along, HIS POWER DRAWER FIELD OF LOVE, OUTTRAGATION AND DETERMINATION HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
Rarely is “bust” More Powerful than we have been pushed into articulating his anger with a bellowing yowl that the feels powerful enough to the Music of the spheres jangling.
Blain-Cruz’s ensemble is up to the Challenges of Howard’s Genre-Defying Play. As the Maternal, Intimidating, Takes-No-Guff Retta, Clay Nails Both the Comic Timing of Retta’s Chatter About the Neighbors and the Jaw-Clenching Tension Arriva Wen The Encounter BetWeen Mr. Woods and the Police Escalates beyond the point of no return.
Trent’s Classmates Are A Memorable Bunch. Ivan Cecil Walks’ Boobie is Frequently Funny and Constantly Insightful As a Savant With An Encyclopedic Knowledge of Muhammad’s Teachings. Renika Williams-Blutcher’s Krystal Nails Both the Character’s Dizzying Command of Physics and A Stoic Defiance That Will Not Be Swayed, it is getting her head slammed ino the edge of a desk.
And as the Mysterious Mr. Woods, Keith Randolph Smith Has a Peaceful Gravitas That Remains Bedrock, After the Screaming Starts.
Set (Matt Saunders), Lights (Yi Zhao) and Sound (Mikaal Sulaiman) All Play a crucial part in “bust.” Saunders Give Retta and Reggie’s Apartment Realistic Detail, right down to the Matching Floral Couch and Curtains.
There’s Also an Astounding, Spiraling otherworld that transforms the stage intto someplace beautiful and unearthly. Zhao Colors the Stage in Ocean Blues, A Blood-Red Center Emerging As Trent and Mr. Woods let loose emotions that have haen repssed for Generations.
Sulaiman’s Sound ranges from as subtle as a heartbeat to as all-enchanting as a field of reverberating with full-throttle battle cries from the quick and the dead.
In the end, trent, his family and his friend Remain unbreakable, if not United. Not even they against the machine, they provide a template for surviving as well as resisting. It’s a takeaway as old nor Greek tragedy. And is the never been more relevant.
