Grain in the Blood (KXT on Broadway) ★★★

Written by Rob Drummond. KXT on Broadway. 23 Feb – 9 Mar 2024.

What does it take to be the hero? How far would you go to save a life? Rob Drummond’s rural-gothic Grain in the Blood puts four adults in the position of deciding what lengths they would go to save a child. It’s the age old question of can the ends ever justify the means?

Veterinarian Sophia (Siobhan Lawless) and Violet (Genevieve Muratore) live on a farm with Sophia’s grand-daughter, Autumn (Kim Clifton), who is ill. Two men arrive. Issac (Ciarán O’Riordan), a prisoner given compassionate release for the weekend, and his minder Burt (Nick Curnow). Unbeknownst to Autumn, Issac is the biological father she’s never known, imprisoned for the death of her mother. He is also the only potential familial donor for the kidney transplant that could save her life after two failed attempts. But Sophia has kept them apart for over a decade… Can she now convince Issac to make a sacrifice for a child he never knew?

Drummond plays with a sense of eerie intrigue and the strangeness of remote villages to amp up the tension, framing this moral showdown on a farm in an area filled with folklore. His characters have layers that have calcified over time, but the heat of their initial trauma remains underneath. This is a taut play, even without the mythic edges, but threatens to descend into melodrama if the tone isn’t right.

Thankfully, the mood is wonderfully evoked by Director/Designer Victor Kalka’s set with gorgeous lighting by Jasmin Borsovszky and sound and music by Madeleine Picard. This show looks and feels just right for the story. It’s impressive work from all for the small space and tight budget.

Kim Clifton is strong as the foul-mouthed but sweet Autumn. O’Riordan is well cast as the young father caught in the middle of an ethical conundrum, full of competing impulses. But after the atmospheric opening moments that evoke the untrusting, claustrophobic air well, the slow delivery of dialogue and languid movements reduce the impact. The initial tension seeps away. A lack of light and shade to the pacing makes Grain in the Blood feel longer than its 80 minutes and it doesn’t manage to achieve the emotional heights required to justify its finale. 

That said, the finale itself is an interesting one as the adults are all forced into extreme action based on what they think and know is best for Autumn. While some elements are creepily foreshadowed throughout the play, others are revelations that make you reassess the characters. It’s a nice bit of writing that pushes its characters into tight corners to see how they’ll fight their way out. Even Burt, ever the observer, is forced to become an active participant.

First staged in 2016, the year of Trump and Brexit – there’s an animus that inhabits Grain in the Blood. Who do you trust? Can you trust another person to do the right thing? What do you believe? It was youthful, blind faith that got these people into an awful situation in the first place, but can they rebuild the trust to move forward? Can any of us?