Blackbird

by David Harrower

seen at the Belasco Theatre, New York, on 27 May 2016

Joe Mantello directs this short but extremely intense play starring Michelle Williams as Una and Jeff Daniels as Ray, with set design by Scott Pask and lighting by Brian MacDevitt.

As the play begins, the office space we have been looking at is transformed by moving walls into an untidy office canteen, into which Ray propels Una. He is hunched with misery and fearful unease; she, unwilling to be touched or controlled, seems more in command of herself. There is clearly something clandestine about the meeting, as Ray feels he has been tracked down while Una seems determined on an important confrontation. She is very sceptical that Ray is now evidently known to everyone in the office as Pete.

The reasons soon enough become clear - Ray has served a prison sentence for child abuse, having had sex with Una when she was twelve. After his release he has taken on a new identity and moved away from the town where Una grew up, hence his dismay that she has discovered him again after twelve or more years.

The revelation of the background to this encounter is, of course, from the audience's point of view, explosive. The whole issue of paedophilia raises uncomfortable and very strong reactions. Here we are presented with two survivors of such a story, but we must sort through their individual reminiscences and recriminations to try to obtain a clearer picture of the damage done (the facts are not really in question). It becomes clear that both are damaged, and both are still to an extent still trapped.

The two performers are excellent. Jeff Daniels has played the part of Ray before (this is a revival), but he wanted to explore it further, and he brings an utterly convincing air of defeat and pain to Ray at the beginning of the piece, until he is gradually forced to account for himself, when he becomes more angry and articulate. Michelle Williams is a perfect match for him, bringing Una's own anger and sense of betrayal to bear, at times almost choking on her words as she recalls the events of that childhood experience. It's just a masterclass in watching two fine actors revealing the intense pain that people can endure, and a further tribute to their skill that they can explore aspects of the situation which, by their ambiguity and unexpectedness, show that complex tides of emotion and attachment can lie behind reprehensible actions.