The first night at the new Crossroads at Five Points Theatre was full of surprises.
The good: How close it really is to downtown proper. How convenient it is to get to, by car, light rail or – my preference – scooter. How intimate this elegant, 84-seat salon theater is, with its refurbished seats from the old Auditorium Theatre. How it drew so many people on its first Saturday night. That performances start no later than 7 p.m. to accommodate later-night programming.
The bad: That designers didn’t take a cue from modern cinemas and build seating on a more dramatic slope, which would eliminate common sightline problems that plague most theaters that have preceded it.
The best: That the inaugural production is the emotionally brutal Irish drama, “Bold Girls.”
The most baffling: That the inaugural production is the emotionally brutal Irish drama, “Bold Girls.”
Crossroads sits at the heart of the black cultural community, in a city with only one black theater company. Still, Kurt Lewis’ vision encompasses “a convergence of cultures.”
Fair enough. But it would have better established that vision by opening with a work by a black playwright or director. “Bold Girls” is intense and solidly performed, but many of Lewis’ well-wishing attendees might fairly wonder whether they have inadvertently wandered into the Crossroads at Belfast.
“Bold Girls” steps into the horror that was, and is, Northern Ireland. Playwright Rona Munro’s haunting tale tells of “the troubles” from the unusual point of view of four ordinary women trying to raise their children and go about mundane household chores in a corner of the world where sounds of helicopters and gunfire outside are as familiar as the chirping of birds.
It’s 1990, inside the home of Marie (Rita Broderick), a weary but cheerful young widow with laundry piled to the ceiling. Her best friend is Cassie (Elizabeth Rose), a caustic spitfire and also mother of two. Cassie’s harsh mother Nora (Stephanie Jones) supplies generational disgust at their frank talk. This would be an oh-so-normal scene if not for the roadblocks, explosions and complete absence of their men, who are all dead or in jail for their IRA activities. But the women they’ve left behind are just as battle-tested, just as trapped.
The mundaneness dissipates when a brazen and beaten 16-year-old who just might be a ghost (Jessica Austgen) shows up at Marie’s door, triggering secrets and lies to unravel.
Director Anthony Powell, best known for his ferociously bloody stagings from Irishman Martin McDonagh’s canon for the Denver Center Theatre Company, demands alternately loving and downright vicious performances from a stellar quartet that deliver in often mesmerizing ways.
The rock-solid Jones has few peers, Rose is a live electrical current on any stage, and Austgen seems born to be Irish – though she steps onto a whole new plane with this chilling performance. But the play rides most heavily on newcomer Broderick, who more than holds her own. Together they present a complex character study of four tough, knowable women whose needs and dreams have become casualties of war. Question is, will their humanity be, too?
The play drags whenever character step out of context to deliver unnecessary soliloquies, a device especially detrimental to an otherwise thrilling final act that builds to a messy and primal confrontation.
A strength – and weakness – is Powell’s insistence on thick yet true accents, which requires a period of acclimation. As someone of Irish descent, I far prefer accents that are “Irish enough” so that we can all at least decipher the words. It’s a barrier, but one you eventually overcome.
“Bold Girls” is a most capable opening effort, helped by seamless sound and light enhancements. It’s a tale that maintains a disarmingly firm grip as you depart into the early Five Points night.
It’s telling that the first thing you’ll notice is the takeout hamburger shack that sits just across two of those points. It’s an uncommon scene for Denver, ubiquitous for Ireland. You might momentarily think you’re in Belfast … at Five Points.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
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“Bold Girls”
IRISH DRAMA|Crossroads at Five Points Theatre, 2550 Washington St.|Written by Rona Munro|Directed by Anthony Powell|Starring Elizabeth Rose, Jessica Austgen, Rita Broderick and Stephanie Jones| THROUGH JUNE 16|6:30 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 7 p.m. Saturdays| 2 hours, 20 minutes|$25|303-832-0929 or denvercrossroads.com
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2more
“A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM” The Denver Center Theatre Company’s season-ending production is the outrageous romp about a Roman slave who wins his freedom by helping his young master charm the girl next door. Starring Broadway veteran Ron Orbach and featuring company veterans Kathleen M. Brady, Mike Hartman, Philip Pleasants and David Ivers with a host of newcomers. 6:30 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 1:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. the final three Sundays, through July 8 at the Stage Theatre, Denver Performing Arts Complex. $36-$46 (303- 893-4100 or denvercenter.org).
“MY FAIR LADY” Town Hall Arts Center tells the tale of the poor flower girl and the bachelor professor who bets he can change her social standing by by teaching her proper English. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through June 24 at 2450 W. Main St. $16-$33 (303-794-2787, townhallartscenter.com).
–John Moore
