The Leader

Unexpected professionalism emerges from the UWM Department of Theatre's production of From These Green Heights by Dermot Bolger. The ability of the performers to not only act but also to be able to perform physical stunts such as being flown on wires puts the talent of this show on another level.

The basic story follows two families living in Ballymund, Ireland, a northern suburb of Dublin. Both families came from a better living situation but are now forced to live in an apartment building that is filled with junkies and trouble. Unlikely friendships are made, love is tested between husband and wife, mother and daughter, and various family members end up in good and bad situations. There is a lot of heartache presented on stage, but there are also some funny and beautiful scenarios to even out the performance.

Director Rebecca Holderness of the Theatre Department does an amazing job positioning the actors on stage so that it is interesting to watch. The two male lead roles are seen onstage at different ages in their life being played by different actors. At first it was a little confusing to figure out who was who, but once the story got on its feet, this concept worked very well.

The set design of Bruce Brockman also worked great with the concept of the story. There were three levels onstage and at some points during the performance the different actors playing the same character were on the different levels. The audience could see them positioned and it painted an incredible picture of what was going on in the lives of this family.

Jessica Marking, playing Carmel, one of the mothers of one of the families, does an astonishing job at playing the strong but troubled housewife. In a scene during which her character is having complications with her unborn child, it is heartbreaking to watch the situation unfurl. Her chemistry with Rob Maass, playing Christy, her husband, was very believable. Maass had great concentration with his character and gave the audience a sense of who he was under the surface.

Michael Cotey and Dan Koester played the couple's son, Dessie, at different ages. They worked well together as the same character and did an amazing job at showing his emotion. Physically these actors also had to be hooked up to harnesses and flown into the air onstage. Every flying scene was beautiful scripted and was emotionally intense to watch. This effect was a great additive to the story and the actors dealt with the challenge of it extremely well.

The entire cast showed great maturity and depth in their characters. The only thing that indicates these students are college-aged is their physical appearance. Other than that, there would be no other way to tell these actors are students. Their focus is superb and their ability to work as a group in an ensemble cast is incredible. Even the Irish accents sounded authentic, without being so thick that the audience wasn't able to understand the words.

From These Green Heights is part of the Dreams Deferred series and is being performed along with A Raisin in the Sun running April 20 through May 7 at the Mainstage Theater, 2400 Kenwood Blvd. For ticket information contact the Peck School of the Arts box office at 414.229.4308.

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