Written by James McManus. KXT Broadway. Mar 24 – Apr 8, 2023.
Four excellent performances and slick, smart design work combine to bring James McManus’ Cherry Smoke to life and give the new KXT Broadway a proper launch. It’s just unfortunate the play itself doesn’t live up to all the good work done to bring it to the stage.
Fish, and his younger brother Duffy, scrape by on their own. With no education and no prospects, Fish’s only skill is fighting. When he was nine his father threw him into illegal fights to earn money going up against older kids and it’s been the same ever since. He is idolised by young Cherry, a fellow homeless girl who lives by the river and occasionally speaks to Jesus. Over the years, as Fish goes in and out of prison, they start to grow into adulthood and realise life doesn’t get any easier.
Tom Dawson and Meg Hyeronimus have charm to spare as Fish and Cherry. Dawson has a youthful glee that morphs into adolescent aggression easily. Fish isn’t the smartest kid in town, but his internal logic is consistent, even if it’s desperately flawed. Having such a strong Fish at the centre of this production lets the other performers rise. You can understand why Cherry is in love with him, why Duffy (Fraser Crane) looks up to him and also why Bug (Alice Birbara) is wary of him. Hyeronimus’s Cherry is a headstrong survivor and her love of Fish is absolute.
Cherry and Fish’s dramatic and intense affair is juxtaposed with Duffy’s relationship with Bug (Alice Birbara). An awkward girl with a big heart, it’s her journey that hits hardest despite happening on the side of the main plot. Birbara absolutely shines as the one bright spot in this tale, slowly being dimmed by life’s creeping tragedies. All four performers wring the most from their roles, and while the accent work was sometimes a little patchy, the emotional truths spoke volumes.
The problems all lie with a dour, unfocused script that is sub-Tracey-Letts without the psychological depth. McManus fetishes the working-class poor without really looking at the issues involved. This is a middle-class tourist’s view of abject poverty that is here to shock rather than enlighten. A messy, time-jumping structure makes it hard to track Fish’s emotional journey, resulting in an ending that is unearned and overly sensational. Incessant monologues inflate the running time and offer little insight other than showing how good these performers are.
Cherry Smoke at KXT Broadway succeeds in christening the new venue with great performances and some terrific staging. While the text itself didn’t impress, the talent on stage makes this worth a watch.
Cultural Binge 
Leave a comment