One-person shows depend heavily on the strength of story, the ability of the performer, and, very important, whether they recognize an ending when they reach it. This one, directed by Larry Moss, aces the first two—the story is resonant, the performance is breathtaking. Sadly, the latter half of the play becomes indulgent, and the evening creeps to a close. Written and performed by Pamela Gien (Gin Hammond and Eva Kaminsky will alternate in the role), The Syringa Tree is set in Johannesburg in the early days of apartheid. The primary narrator is 6-year-old Elizabeth Grace, who experiences the brutality of apartheid generally through the filter of childhood and specifically through the effects it has on her doting nanny, Salamina, and Salamina's daughter, Moliseng.
Gien gives a beautiful performance. Her range is inspiring, her transitions are lightning fast, her dialects pitch-perfect. Also impressive is how well she has observed childish physicality: Elizabeth takes random, excitable leaps around the stage, exactly like a child alone at play.
The writing is nicely nuanced; however, Gien does her work a disservice by revealing a result and then acting out the preceding events. We are told of Moliseng's death in the Soweto uprising, and then Gien acts out the moments leading up to her murder. We learn of Elizabeth's grandfather's brutal death and then hear for the first time how much she loved him. It's hard to experience loss if we don't meet characters until we know they are already dead.
But the writing disappoints in another, more profound way. Gien doesn't approach the complexities of the relationships between servants and masters, or even the degrees of pain or brutality experienced under apartheid, ducking out instead under phrases like "we are all of this earth" and leading to the conclusion that, essentially, apartheid was horrible for everyone. No one is asking for guilt, but how about at least opening the door to the possibility that the pain Elizabeth and her parents felt over Moliseng's death, though considerable, might not be equal to the pain Salamina felt? Gien's writing is observant and honest, and yet, when the play reaches Elizabeth's adult years, when we most need her to explore, to offer insight, the script—and the play—collapses into platitudes.
"The Syringa Tree," presented by the Pasadena Playhouse, in association with Matt Salinger, at the Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Tues.-Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 5 & 9 p.m., Sun. 2 & 7 p.m. Nov. 1-Dec. 1. $34.50-44.50. (626) 356-7529.