Barksdale Theatre's production of The Syringa Tree can best be described as stunning. Not only does Richmond actor Jill Bari Steinberg deliver a stunning solo performance, but the set is striking, and the story itself — a passionate commentary on apartheid — stuns the audience.
Based on the memories of playwright Pamela Gien, the Obie-winning play is narrated from the innocent point of view of Lizzie, a 6-year-old white girl growing up in South Africa during the turbulent 1960s. On a swing hanging from the safe haven of a giant syringa tree in her yard, Lizzie illuminates the black-and-white world around her, a racist environment that eventually leads to the violent deaths of her grandfather and the daughter of her beloved nanny.
Steinberg's portrayal of 24 disparate characters — male and female, young and old, black and white — is a remarkable feat. In an instant, with an ever-changing voice and posture, she becomes a garden boy, a playful toddler, an old man, a protective nanny, a doting mother and father, and two brokenhearted women — one white, one black. The audience feels the joy and pain of these people and realizes that injustice knows no color.
Keri Wormald, who produced the play two years ago at the experimental Theatre Gym, again directs here and has put together an imaginative creative team. Amanda Durst's work as voice director is evident in Steinberg's mastery of various dialects and vocal tones. James Ogden's austere design, a single rope swing on a bare stage, is set against a sheer backdrop of silhouetted trees on a windswept African landscape — a powerful statement. It comes as no surprise that Ogden, a Virginia Commonwealth University student, took top honors for the set, his first professional design, at the Southeastern Theatre Conference's design competition. Lighting designer Steven Koehler reveals the subtle passage of time with rose-colored backlighting through a smoky screen. Daybreak and dusk are welcome periods of calmness, while in startling contrast a glaring red spotlight and flashing blue lights create terrifying moments of danger.
Barksdale Theatre makes a bold move in remounting The Syringa Tree. It is not a play for the faint-hearted. Tragic and funny, it is much more than a riveting exposé of South Africa in its darkest hour. It is a play full of humanity, with an emotional punch that leaves the audience awakened and changed.
The Syringa Tree runs April 21-May 21 at Barksdale Theatre, 1601 Willow Lawn Dr., Richmond, Va. Tickets: (804) 282-2620. Website: www.barksdalerichmond.org.