Time Out Chicago

Blackbird
By Kris Vire

Victory Gardens Theater. By David Harrower. Dir. Dennis Zacek. With Mattie Hawkinson, William L. Petersen.

It may be Petersen’s TV fame that had some performances of this Chicago premiere selling out before it opened. But audiences who come for Gil Grissom will leave Mattie Hawkinson fans—the depth and precision of her performance is nothing short of breathtaking.

Hawkinson plays Una, a young woman who tracks down the man (Petersen) who, 15 years earlier, was her lover. Or rather, perhaps, her molester; at the time of their sexual encounters, he was 40 and she was 12. It’s that “perhaps” that makes Harrower’s play so confoundingly, uncomfortably complex. The playwright doles out with great care the details of the entanglement, its end and what’s ensued in the intervening years, before Una sees Ray’s photo by chance in a trade magazine; the play unfolds in real time as Una confronts Ray in his workplace’s break room.

The balance of power shifts often enough to make one nauseous; indeed, as the waves of recriminations crash back and forth, both Ray and Una reach the verge of physical illness. What may induce discomfort in those watching is the play’s emotional intricacy. It’s natural to want a clear moral denouncement of what was definitely abuse. But Harrower doesn’t allow us that ease: While neither blaming the victim nor letting the abuser off the hook, Blackbird whittles away at these two until we can’t help but see the affair the way they did—as a love story, albeit one that destroyed both their lives. Petersen crumples masterfully in Zacek’s tightly wound production, but it’s Hawkinson’s play. As you watch her crescendo in the long, riveting indictment of a monologue in which she recounts the last time she saw Ray, just heed our advice: Remember to breathe.