Review: When the rain Stops Falling

NOTE: With more than 18,000 tickets sold and box-office takings exceeding $1 million, the season for When The Rain Stops Falling has been extended to 20 June.

Glancing down the row, I see the torsos of my neighbours tilted forward, faces intent with concentration. It is that sort of play ... the equivalent of a nine-by-nine kenken or a round of chess with Garry Kasparov. When the Rain Stops Falling, at the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre, is a stunning production, intellectually stimulating and emotionally satisfying.

From the opening moment of the play — set in Alice Springs, with a cascade of (real) water pouring down, and an ocean-going fish falling from the sky — you are hooked, and absorbed for the next two hours of the non-stop performance.

The story involves four generations over a span of 80 years from 1959 to 2039, in England and Australia. But don’t expect a linear tale. The scenes range back and forth in time and between the two countries. At times, characters from different generations or geography appear on the same set, or different personas of the same character will present together. It is brilliantly conceived by writer Andrew Bovell (Lantana, Holy Day) after a gap of five or so years from playwriting.

The events of the play cover the turbulence of marriage, when one partner’s sexual deviation results in the other’s alcoholism; the abandonment of a child and the consequent psychological scarring which that causes; dealing with a beloved partner sliding into alzheimers; the joy of new and passionate love; the bleakness of love denied; the cost that random violence to a family member has on the survivors; the power of reconciliation and rediscovered family bonds; and more.

The themes deal with loss and human resilience — the notion that despite the sad repetitions of history, understanding about the past just might stop the rain falling, and let the sun out. There is also engagement with global warming, and some black humour around the results of climate change on food sources — especially fish!

The performances of the entire cast are mesmerising, and without fault. They live up to director Chris Drummond’s description of the people who inhabit the play: “They are profoundly real in their flaws and humanness, but they are also ghosts ... figures lost in a landscape ... they inhabit lonely worlds around kitchen tables.” It is hard to single any out, but memorable in retrospect are Anna Lise Phillips as the younger Gabnrielle Law and Neil Pigot as Henry Law.

But it is not a bleak play, because in the end emotional emptiness is confronted, human meaning is found, and we see that the darker cycles of personal history can be broken.

The set design by Hossein Valamanesh is — yes — stunning. The visual impact of Uluru at night moving into dawn was a masterpiece that drove the spiritual experience required from the script. Add to this the music composed by Quentin Grant, which never intrudes but is nevertheless essential in creating the whole.

When the Rain Stops Falling is a play you should see. But take a tip, get there a little early, buy the program and study the family tree.

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NOTE: Because Oz Baby Boomers values good theatre and because it appreciates the fact that good theatre can't be staged without the generous assistance of sponsors, it is pleased to acknowledge those sponsors.

In the case of When the Rain Stops Falling, Sydney Theatre Company would like to particularly acknowledge its principal sponsor:

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