I know you love my cheesy title, but have no worries - the post title is in no way reflective of the play I'm going to rave about today. Conor McPherson's The Birds is anything but cheesy.


However, before I get to the part where I tell you why I'm so excited and how this play finally managed to break my Dowling Studio dry-spell, let me give you a quick rundown of my simple, but what I assumed to be very effective, strategy. After my mishap (or maybe hidden blessing) of not having any sort of clue as to what the last play I saw (End of the Rainbow) was about, this time I was determined to do my research. I decided to:

1. Watch Hitchcock's movie.
2. Read du Maurier's novelette.
3. See McPherson's play.

I rarely do so much prep work before a show, but this time around the nerdness in me prevailed. I will be the first to admit I was excited about the show's concept and I wanted to be able to compare the three works in my head because now that I have been out of school for a few years, I have been feeling an increased lack of intellectual stimulation. I digress, BUT... if you too have seen/read all three, let me know! I would very much like to discuss.

Back to the point at hand (McPherson's success): What impressed me most about the story woven out of du Maurier's novelette is the simple fact that it was completely different. The overall idea of killer birds and character names remain the same, but the setting and relationships are something else entirely. Instead of a family fighting for survival, we have three separate, unrelated strangers and one... or two... or maybe all of them are bordering on insanity. But then again, who wouldn't be if gargantuan masses of birds randomly started attacking people? I feel like the best way for me to illustrate my experience is to do so chronologically...

First and foremost, because I was sidetracked with the different "Birds" stories, I failed to check the cast list. When I walked into the theater, sat down, opened my program and saw J.C. Cutler and Stephen Yoakum's names... I literally bounced with giddiness in my seat. Two of my 2011-2012 Season faves?! YES!


Second, the lights dim and you can hear nothing but the sound of about a bazillion birds fly overhead... at that point, my hopes were high. After a slightly slow start, as the play began to progress it became evident very quickly that the focus of the play was the relationships between the characters. The real fear (for me) came not from the birds, but from the thought of being quite literally couped up like one with two other strangers who you hardly know and can't reasonably trust. The Dowling provides the perfect environment to enhance this psychological element as it is by far the smallest of the Guthrie's stages. (Minnesota Monthly's article, whose title I love, Sorry, Hitchcock. You've Been Upstaged speaks to this quite well if you would like some more elaboration.)

Finally, towards the end of the performance I felt so invested in the story and its characters that I quite literally felt as if I too were trapped in the small, claustrophobic farmhouse, and when I finally emerged from the theater into the Pohlad lobby I couldn't help but omit a small exhale of relief. If you are looking to be frightened, in that psychologically invigorating kind of way, flock to the Dowling.

Later days, I can’t help feeling they communicate something in the silence.

*FTW = For the Win