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Journeymen Theater has never been a company to shy away from plays involving heavy themes or brimming with moral dilemmas. The group stays true to form with its ambitious production of After Darwin, now being staged at Church Street Theater.
After Darwin is a work where the play within a play is as fascinating, or even more so, as the action going on behind the scenes. A ragtag group of performers is staging a work centering around Charles Darwin's voyage aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, during which Darwin conducted the surveys that would form the basis of The Origin of the Species. The play within a play, rich with historical detail and larger-than-life characters, could stand easily on its own. At times, it’s actually more interesting than what’s going on with the characters behind the scenes.
The play draws parallels and comparisons between the conflicts faced by Darwin and his rival, Robert Fitzroy, who wants nothing more than to keep the findings of The Origin of the Species buried, and those facing the work’s actors, writer and director. But not all these modern-day characters quite register with us – the sympathetic back story of foreign director Millie (Elizabeth H. Richards) is moving enough, but she’s also caught up in an out-of-nowhere romance with the man playing Fitzroy (Grady Weatherford). The noble writer (Dallas Darttanian Miller) is a bit too idealized, and the actor playing Darwin (Eric Messner) a bit too shallow, for us to fully connect with them.
Still, Journeyman’s cast is first-rate. Whether he’s playing a Fury in drag or the Bard himself, Weatherford never fails to give a magnetic performance, and his Fitzroy is the show’s most intriguing figure. Messner has a frank confidence as Tom (and draws nicely inward to play the more conflicted Darwin), and Miller and Richards each deliver fine supporting turns.
All in all, while this talky work packs a little bit too much into its multifaceted text, there’s still something to be said for a production with intellectually stimulating themes and convincing performances, and After Darwin delivers that and more. The show runs through March 31; tickets are available online.
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umm...is this an anti-evolution play?
No it's not, and thanks for asking that question, as it's probably something that I should have addressed, b/c I wondered that before seeing it. The themes that present day characters deal with are more concepts like "having to evolve", "survival of the fittest" etc. And while Fitzroy talks about how devastated society would be if Darwin's news got out, the play doesn't present this as a stance one should take, etc.
As the producer of the show, one of the things that drew me to this play was that playwright, I believe, presents both sides of the argument of evolution versus creationism brilliantly. One of the things that I am proud of for the theater company is that we try to find plays that ride the fence with issues so that each play can be a platform for open discussion about sometimes difficult subjects and After Darwin is just such a play.