Stage Review - Gruesome Playground Injuries (SecondStory Rep)
Stage Review - Gruesome Playground Injuries
Presented By: SecondStory Repertory) - Redmond, WA
Show Run: January 17 - February 02, 2025
Date Reviewed: Thursday, January 16, 2025 (Preview)
Run Time: 85 minutes (no intermission)
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
The more theatre I take in, I start to realize that I notice trends, trends in what I like, what I don’t like, what I appreciate, and what makes me shudder. It’s uncanny how covering theatre has helped me get to know myself in this way over the past few years. When it comes to playwrights, I’ve come to realize that there are certain writers who resonate with me more than others, authors whose use of language I find fascinating in their construction or turn of phrase. Rajiv Joseph is one of those playwrights, the kind of writer who has a unique command of language and story structure, such that he is quickly becoming one of the preeminent playwrights of his generation. Over the past few years, it has been Pratidhwani, Seattle’s South Asian focused theatre company that has been bringing Joseph’s work to the stage in the area, last season in partnership with ReAct Theatre with both Animals Out of Paper and Letters of Suresh, and earlier this season in a co-production with ArtsWest and his Guards at the Taj. This time, it’s SecondStory Rep’s turn, and Rajiv Joseph’s 2009 play Gruesome Playground Injuries, in a production directed by Andrew Shanks and running on stage in Redmond through February 2.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little intrigued by the title of the play. Gruesome Playground Injuries is something that is sure to turn a head or two. And yes, there are, in fact, gruesome playground injuries, and then some. The story of two life long friends, who meet in elementary school at the age of eight in tne nurse’s office, Kayleen with her latest bout in an ongoing and chronic stomach issue, and Doug with the first of many “accidental” injuries, this one from riding his bike off the roof of the school, doesn’t just chronicle their physical bruises, but their emotional ones as well, some accidental, some self-inflicted, and some a result of outside influences or their own relationships. It’s a complex, but human, story, that is constructed in a way that feels like a puzzle is being put together in front of the audience’s eyes, starting with the pair at age 8, then jumping to 23, then back 13, forward to 28, back to 18, up to 33, back again to 23, and finally ending at 38. At face value, that might seem chaotic and overwhelming, it’s not, and each scene informs the audience a little more about the characters, each smartly hinting at something about a detail that will be filled in later, but when the show is over, the puzzle assembled, all of the rocks turned over, their lives examined, and the ultimate message delivered, the message is that the most important of the gruesome playground injuries may just be the one that doesn’t happen at all. It’s a story about our very human connections, perhaps about fate, who we’re meant to be with and what happens when we look past that and live our lives in a way that contradicts what may be laid out in front of us, in this case losing the trees for the forest. Rajiv Joseph has sprinkled Gruesome Playground Injuries with such a humanity that it can’t help but be relatable, there’s sadness, anger, joy, love, tension, passion, confusion, and just about every other human emotion you can think of, plus a good amount of humor. There are some pretty hard scenes to watch, the physical injuries aside, the emotional ones are the more difficult, and though there are times when I question what Doug says or does in the context of these situations, which I have to believe is just a difference in his reaction to mine in a similar circumstance, other than that I find Joseph’s characterizations of the pair, and especially Kayleen, to be spot on emotionally.
I’ve also realized another thing over the last few years, that I have never been disappointed with Mark Chenovick’s set work at SecondStory Rep. What is evident in Mark’s set designs is his familiarization with the space, and his ability to always make the best use of it to help in each director’s storytelling. Here, though, what Mark has done is something ultimately complementary to Joseph’s story construction. The entire story is laid out on the stage, every scene is there for the audience to see, every puzzle piece to use my previous analogy, there just waiting to be assembled. And as the play progresses, and the audience wonders when the sofa and television are going to be used, or when the fence and streetlight will be put into play, or when the raised platform with what is surely a hospital bed on it will be included, each of those questions are answered, and just as everything comes together with the story, so it does with the set. Each area of the stage is, in fact a different location in time, a hospital, a funeral home, a living room, even an ice rink and a high school gymnasium. Mark’s lighting and sound help to provide the context for each scene as well, whether it’s just spotlighting which area on stage the audience needs to focus on, or providing the right ambience for the school dance, it’s all part of a complete package. One other note on the sound, which also plays a big part here, from the din of school children, to the excellently curated musical soundtrack that is strewn throughout the piece, volume control is expertly handled, lowering just at the right time when one of the actors is about to speak, or coming through as background noise when necessary. Finally, I don’t usually say too much about projections, other than a mention here or there when they’re used, because in many cases I find them to be somewhat lazy, especially when used as a replacement for physical sets, but when they’re used synergistically, to accentuate, or enhance, the scenic design, rather than to make up for it, they deserve some credit, and Mark’s work on them here along with Director Andrew Shanks’ work on the transitional projections between scenes is exceptional. Before the play even starts, projections are used to provide what feels like an introductory tease, like watching the opening credit sequence of a medical drama, complete with ominous music and hospital scenes, along with production credits. It’s nicely done, well produced and informative. Each scene is then preceded by a notice of the same quality, introducing the couple’s age, and the nature of the “playground injury” depicted in the scene. It’s a wonderful example of how to use projections to add to the quality of a show, rather than to replace a component of it.
As a two-person show, as good as the sets are, and the projections, and Alicia Mendez’s costumes are, it’s up to the actors and Andrew’s direction to make the emotional aspects of the show work. Alan Garcia is Doug and Sarah Rose Nottingham is Kayleen, and the challenges of these roles are many, not the least of which is having to be agile in how they transition from scene to scene between the ages of the characters, as it’s not just a sequential young to old, they need to bounce back and forth from younger to older, and back again a few times. Alan is good in this aspect, especially as the older Dougs, his 8-year old and 13-year old Doug seem a little too similar for my taste, skewing toward the younger version and perhaps a bit too much that way, but I will say that Doug is the less mature of the characters at each age anyway. Sarah, meanwhile, is excellent, and she is in every aspect of her performance, not just portraying each age, but especially with dealing in the specific emotional currency her character does in each situation at each age. Her injuries aren’t as obvious as Doug’s, so it’s up to Sarah to portray these internal, psychological wounds to the same extent as blood and bandages do with Doug’s external ones. As for chemistry, The two do work extremely well together, whether it’s the tension between them, the playfulness, the love, or the anger, the emotions are real, the energy is palpable. So, if the ultimate success of Gruesome Playground Injuries comes down to the performances of these two actors, this show is in very good hands.
The work of Rajiv Joseph has started to make its way on to Seattle stages more and more recently, and we as theatre patrons are better off for it. The latest of his work to hit area theaters, and one with an amazing name if I do say so, Gruesome Playground Injuries, is being presented by SecondStory Rep and is a play about human connection and relationships, about lost opportunity and the hope for reconciliation. It’s a truly human story, a dark comedy about two people, performed by two talented actors in very good performances, that asks us to look at our own lives, to see if what we have is what we need, and demands that we don’t take anything for granted, especially those that we love and care about.
The SecondStory Rep production of Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries runs on stage through February 2 in Redmond. For more information about the show, including ticket availability and sales, visit https://www.secondstoryrep.org/.
Photo credit: Michael Brunk
