Book-it Repertory Theatre’s production of Chris Cleave’s 2008 novel draws a compelling narrative from key scenes and details of the book, but sacrifices some of the slow-building power of Cleave’s writing in the process. This engrossing adaptation trims so much prose that what is left seems at times programmatic: the story moves swiftly and with rising tension and interest, as a well-told story should, but feels overly episodic in the second half, and the ending, which the audience must decipher, lacks too much of Cleave’s word-craft to adequately build the foreboding mood of the novel.
However, Book-it has succeeded again in turning a great book into an entertaining and challenging stage experience. Published in Great Britain under the title “The Other Hand,” the novel brings into sharp contrast the lives and fates of entitled, affluent “westerners” and the powerless poor of an exploited and chaotic oil-producing state — Nigeria, but it could be many places in the world.
The story begins with three women from different parts of the former British empire who by ploys and pluck gain release from an “immigration removal center” in Chelmsford, England. One of them – with the name Little Bee – has chosen language as her survival system; by mastering “the Queen’s English” she is able to navigate and be a leader to the other women as they travel toward diverse destinies.
Little Bee, played with assurance and vulnerability by Claudine Mboligikpelani Nako, makes her way to the home of Sarah and Andrew O’Rourke (Sydney Andrews and Eric Riedmann,) a couple to whom we gather she has some prior connection. As the history and layers of this relationship are gradually revealed, along with Sarah’s earlier infidelity with a civil service officer, Lawrence (Michael Patten in this and various ensemble roles,) central motifs of the story emerge: who are we under the surface of what defines us – what are our “true names?” What barricades do we erect to protect our lives and the lies that make them work? How much do we care about, and what will we give up to help others? How do we decide who is worthy of compassion?
It soon becomes apparent that the clash between affluence and poverty, first world and third, is a theme as relevant here in affluent, inequitable Seattle as it is in London or anywhere else in our divided and tortured world. As Little Bee gains a tenuous foothold in the family as a de facto nanny to the couple’s young son Charlie (lively and poised Jonah Koval,) illusions and superficiality of modern western life are exposed like the open wound on the neck of a Nigerian soldier – the wound that would kill him if he didn’t take his own life first, as others in this tale do before their own wounds catch up with them.
Despite its dark themes, the book abounds with humor, and director (and Book-It co-founder) Myra Platt excels at bringing it to life. She also directs her accomplished and diverse cast with a flair for capturing in brief scenes the intensity of emotional needs and conflicting goals. First-time Book-It audiences surprised by the conventions of transforming prose into dialogue and action will soon be drawn in and forget they are listening to literature. It’s what Book-It does, and does well. While this staging of a complex and rich novel shows some of the limitations of the genre, it rises above its few weaknesses to deliver a memorable, if ultimately cryptic, message.
“The Other Hand” of the British title perhaps refers to the sacrifice of a finger to save one life, and the giving of a life to save another. Sacrifice and selfishness, hope and despair, candor and deceit, are packed together in a kind of honeycomb world. As Little Bee says late in the play: “I knew that the hopes of this whole human world could fit inside one soul. This is a good trick. This is called, globalization.” Cleave’s text succeeds in pulling together numerous threads in this one elegant phrase. In the stage version, it lands a bit heavily, but does its job nonetheless, using that catchword we westerners think we know to suddenly reveal crushing injustice in a world of immensely different lives and hopes.
Book-It’s usual seamless transitions that squeeze time and distance into a few steps, a tilted set piece, or a strain of music, are especially effective in this play, where worlds collide, history and memory live just below the surface of the present, and the story of the future remains to be written. Will Abrahamse’s set design shifts easily from the monolithic wall of a detention center to the jungle-edge shore of an African beach or an English parlor, and Andrew Smith’s lighting concept fills the wide stage with light and color. The music and sound effects add atmosphere, but lack unifying coherency.
A production this ethnically diverse in Seattle is refreshing, with a mix of African and Caribbean and various English accents, colors, and personalities claiming the stage in quickly-shifting locales. Elena Flory-Barnes’ lush Jamaican helps support the life-filled and likeable character of Yevette; Meiko Parton’s brash and pitiless soldier-leader threatens with his harsh African English and hatred for all things “western,” while we realize that he could be the boy next door. Jason Sanford, Zenaida Smith, Kaila Towers and Book-It acting intern Kourtney Connor create distinct and diverse roles as guards, village women, and ensemble members.
Used as we are to our own Northwest idioms and accents, understanding the mix onstage is at times a challenge, and a good reminder that English, like the “coin of the realm” to which Little Bee compares herself in the book’s opening lines, goes everywhere and has many shapes and voices.
Book-It’s 2015 season is a jubilee celebrating the company’s 25-year history. All tickets are $25. The organization, true to its educational and civic aspirations, is also partnering with two local organizations: Northwest International Refugee Project (NWIRP) and Refugee Women’s Alliance of Washington (ReWA) and will host 6:30 pm pre-show discussions with representatives from those groups and from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on Wednesday April 29 and May 6, and post-show Sunday afternoons on May 3 and 10.
Dramaturg Anthea Carns is also to be credited, with others, for a vivid lobby display and most informative program notes. Audiences of “Little Bee” at Book-It Repertory Theatre will not only be entertained, touched, and perplexed, but also informed and educated about timely issues: immigration, refugees, justice, and more. We theatergoers in Seattle are for the most part a pretty comfortable crowd, in our various ways; “Little Bee” is sweet and dark as honey, but it has a sting, and if you don’t feel it, well, you just aren’t paying attention.
Book-It Repertory Theatre
“Little Bee” by Chris Cleave
Adapted and Directed by Myra Platt
April 22-May 17, 2015 at the Center Theatre at the Armory, Seattle Center
All tickets $25