With most Chicago stages producing holiday fare, Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s always-intriguing WorldStage Series counter-programs the Christmas caroling with Islander, a small but ambitious show that mines Scottish folklore to such good effect that it was named Best New Musical at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
This mysteriously magical two-hander–conceived and directed by Amy Draper (now augmented by Eve Nicol’s tour staging and associate direction) with book by Stewart Melton and music and lyrics by Finn Anderson–takes place on Kinnan Island, whose few inhabitants are about to vote on whether to accept an offer of free housing from the Scottish government conditioned on their moving to the mainland. The school is closed and the doctor has gone away, but there are those who wish to make a go of these reduced circumstances in a beautiful area that now relies on summer tourists to stay financially afloat.
Among those hoping to remain are Eilidh, the only teen left on the island, and her practical-joking grandmother. Eilidh’s mom, a teacher, left for the mainland to work after the school closed, leaving her daughter feeling angry and abandoned. One day, Eilidh finds a baby whale on the beach and comforts it by mimicking whalesong as the animal dies. After the whale has been removed for testing, Eilidh finds a cold, wet, shivering girl her age on the same beach. The stranger, Arran, claims to be feeling “land-sick,” as she normally lives on a piece of this island that broke away centuries ago and has ever since circled the globe shrouded in clouds and mist while the inhabitants, known as finfolk, serve as guides for and keepers of the whales.
Could Arran’s story possibly be true? And has she been banished from her free-floating home for failing to keep the baby whale out of danger? Whatever the reality, Eilidh and Arran quickly form an alliance that blossoms into friendship.
After an off-Broadway run last year, the two-hander has been double cast with actors Lois Craig, Julia Murray, Stephanie MacGaraidh and Sylvie Stenson. Craig and Murray took on the roles of Eilidh and Arran for the Friday opening in the small upstairs theater at Shakes. They are alternating every other performance with Stenson and MacGaraidh during a Chicago run of just over two weeks.
Craig and Murray do an ace job with the world-building required to effectively tell such a fantastical story, their good-hearted humor leavening any pathos. The actors deliver lush, ethereal harmonies even as they move a mobile sound board and two microphones back and forth across the stage, layering their voices together in live mixes so that they effectively perform their own backing vocals (and a bit of beatbox-style percussion) in real time.
Pulling off such live sound mixing while acting multiple roles and singing complex harmonies requires incredible precision, but Craig and Murray made it seem like second nature throughout the single, 90-minute act. The folk-inspired songs are built more to advance the narrative than to stand alone as showtunes, but they are quite engaging in the context of the show–especially as the harmonies wash over the audience and lure us toward the sea.
Islander runs through December 17 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.
For a full roundup of reviews of this show, visit Theatre in Chicago.
Photo by Steve Tanner
