When it comes to mounting the world premiere of a play, there are obvious advantages and disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage or risk is that the play is untested. Even if it did well in a workshop does not mean that it will translate well into a fully staged production. Unfortunately for the Ruskin Group Theatre, the world premiere of Come Sundown by Anthony F. Cronin falls flat, due in large part to the script.
The first act is spent beating the audience over the head with environmental save-the-forests propaganda. Not that saving the forests is a bad thing – we should save them – it should be a top priority. However, when character after character laments about the plight of the forests, and tries to wax poetical about their inherent beauty, and then becomes morose without offering any sort of real solution or hope, it gets old. At some point you’re just beating a dead horse.
And of course, where would our ultra-liberal conservationists be without a good villain? In walks the stereotypical Republican land developer with plans to build vacation homes. And like any good – please read heavy sarcasm here – Republican, he’s misogynistic and is actually offered a Bible to thump at one point. Despite this, the supposed villain, played by Jeison Azali, is actually somewhat likeable. He uses green architects and only swoops in to buy up the land after a new tax law is passed that makes it financially impossible for our land owners to keep their property. He makes a very compelling argument that there will be building, and he’s the best person to do it right. Is he an ass? Yes. Is he likeable? Definitely. The fact that he never once spent five very slow minutes talking about the water cycle – insert flashbacks to seventh-grade science – in a dreamy esoteric voice, just adds to that likeability.
Then there’s the second act. Forget all about the forests, now it’s time to play magical matchmaker. Yes, the two landowners are magical. Although how no one suspects that is odd because the husband, Zach, played by Shelly Kurtz, acts more like a leprechaun than an old man living in the woods. They make it their goal in life to use their mystical, magical ways to make their lawyer – whom they’ve known since he was a child – fall in love with his associate at work. The land deal is now shoved so far onto the back burner that that plot line is resolved in a five-minute conversation – no muss, no fuss, no big deal. The explanation for this abrupt 180-degree turn in the story is vague at best and not provided until the very end.
Come Sundown has some interesting aspects, however, the script desperately needs to be reworked. As it is now, the two acts feel like two one-act plays shoved together to make a full-length play. There isn’t enough of a through line to connect them more than that and the resolutions are shaky and unfulfilling.
