UPDATE: After this story was published, Susan Davey had to leave the production and was replaced by Phoebe Lloyd (Carnegie Mellon Class of 2023).
By SHARON EBERSON
“It’s a typical Pittsburgh story. Somebody knows somebody,” is how Patrick Jordan was able to recruit Irish actress Susan Davey for the atypical play, Crocodile Fever.
Meghan Tyler‘s surrealist work – described as “Thelma and Louise’s punk daughter,” with a chainsaw and automatic rifle prominent in promotional images – concludes barebones productions’ 21st season of works by all female playwrights, all local premieres, and two playwright premieres in Pittsburgh.
“The show takes place in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, 1989, and it’s got some great ‘80s pop culture and music references, film references, really, really cool stuff,” Jordan said of Crocodile Fever, by way of explaining why Belfast-born, New York actress Davey (The Belfast Story with Colm Meaney) is such a natural choice.
Jordan’s friend and frequent collaborator David Whalen put him in touch with another Irish actress Geraldine Hughes, who is best known for her portrayal of Little Marie in 2006’s Rocky Balboa. Hughes “was super, super sweet and kind and helpful,” and through many machinations, Davey has arrived in Pittsburgh to star alongside Carnegie Mellon alum Sara Lindsey as estranged sisters who reconnect after an 11-year absence.
The sisters’ meeting takes place after “a fire in their household, and accidentally or not, their mother perished in it,” Jordan said. “They came up with kind of an abusive father, both mentally and physically, and as the show unfolds, you find out that there’s lots of secrets, all taking place with the backdrop of the Troubles happening, which depending on who you talk to, may be closer than we think. So that’s kind of a captivating thing about it.”
With the violence of the Northern Ireland conflict looming, it’s probably a good time for a reminder that this is a comedy. “A surrealistic black comedy,” Jordan empasized. “But I don’t want to give too much away.”
As to the “crocodile” of the title, well, the play takes place on “in a sweltering, muggy kind of a heat, late at night, a tropical sort of heat” … Jordan mentioned the absurdist playwright Ionesco as a reference, and stopped there.
Crocodile Fever follows the 2024 path that has included the “hyperrealism” of The Animal Kingdom by Ruby Thomas and Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew, “that’s just your classic cut from the cloth of a perfect barebones play,” Jordan said. An all-female-writers season was “a conscious choice” for Jordan’s ever-evolving company that began in 2003, with Neil Labute’s Bash: Latterday Plays, staged in the back room of a Squirrel Hill vintage clothing store.
The current play, which takes place in County Armagh, aims for authenticity in its accents, which gives Davey an obvious leg up, which in turn has been “a thrill” for dialect coach Don Wadsworth. The cast also includes Anthony McKay (Dad) and Max Pavel (Soldier), directed by Jordan, with lighting by Andrew David Ostrowski and set design by Tony Ferrieri.
Lindsey, who goes from Crocodile Fever into Quantum Theatre’s season-opening The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, got into the swing of her role when she discovered a particularly low airfare and traveled to Northern Ireland before rehearsals began. She had met her costar only via Zoom to that point, when she caught the eye of someone across the street. It was Davey, a New Yorker for two years, who was visiting her native country.
The pair posed for pictures, which they texted to their director. Jordan used words like “meant to be” and “kismet” to describe the chance meeting,
The play itself, as often is the case with Jordan as the company’s artistic director, posed a challenge that he felt compelled to accept.
“I adored this play, and then I got to the ending and I was like, ‘Oh, I can’t make this work. This is impossible,’” Jordan said. Over the course of a year, he would pick up the play, and “No” gradually became, “But maybe we could do this.”
“Once the whole season came into the picture, it was a perfect fit,” Jordan said, “because it’s three totally different kinds of plays, but all, so barebones.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Barebones productions’ Crocodile Fever is at Barebones Black Box, Bingo O’Malley Stage, 1211 Braddock Ave.,, Braddock, October 4 – October 20, 2024. Tickets: https://barebonesproductions.ticketspice.com/crocodile-fever .
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