Brisbane review - Unspoken Questions in The Midnight Cry

By Lilian Harrington

Production:   The True Midnight Cry

Writer:              Bianca Butler-Reynolds

Director:          Kate Dekker   

Company:      Minola & Pip Theatres

Location:         20 Park Rd, Milton

Season:           August 13- 22, 7 pm

Bookings:       Try bookings / or Minola Theatre 0452199192

  info@piptheatre.org/ Pip Theatre 0427031983

Have you ever considered the full consequences for families when one of them turns to a religious cult, or becomes influenced by different religious beliefs?

The True Midnight Cry, named after the Adventist periodical, edited by Samuel Snow, in Massachusetts USA in 1844, influenced many believers across America, as they waited for Judgement Day and the return of Christ in October 1844, only to be disappointed.

Inspired by her own childhood experience of growing up as a Seventh- Day- Adventist, producer, writer, actor, Bianca Butler Reynolds has written a very dramatic and thought-provoking play which suggests how she was affected being raised in the Seventh- Day- Adventist Church.

 Act 1, deals with the beginnings when Thaddeus hears the call, and joins the Adventist movement. This eventually results in him losing his wife Inez, and family.

Act 2, is set some years later, his daughter Mila, has broken away from the church, and moved to Australia where she works as an IT programmer in Tasmania. Reynolds has written this play as a two- hander, but the actors play all 4 parts. Inez and Mila (Bianca Butler Reynolds), Thaddeus and Conrad (Colin W Smith), show various sides of Reynold’s inner psyche. Directed by Kat Dekker, this play is carefully crafted and well-acted, even though some actions were obscured at times. The text has some serious themes: grief, suffering, self- harm, death, suicide, sexual assault, miscarriage, and terrorism.

As Inez and Mila, (Bianca Reynolds), shows a strong belief and confidence, as she faces her demons and comes to terms with her own religious background and troubled relationships, through these characters.  As Thaddeus and Conrad (Colin W Smith), contrasted well with Reynolds, and portrayed two quite different characters that had strong motive and clear characterization. The four characters represented different points of view. Thaddeus is a zealot, his energy helps him feel certain and secure; Mila the cynic, still angry about her past trauma; Conrad the seeker, still trusting, although previously abused, he believes in purpose and redemption, and Inez, grounded and realistic.

Thaddeus, leaves his furniture- making business, his loving wife Inez, and young family, after he’s galvanized by the words of an evangelist. He becomes a disciple, speaking to large gatherings across New England, USA. Inez doesn’t follow because she doesn’t share the same beliefs. She takes her children to live at her parent’s place. She’s coped with a miscarriage and still birth all alone. Mila the youngest was raised as an Adventist, but she’s now alienated herself from the Church and works in Tasmania, as an IT Programmer. Her Company have insisted that because she works long hours on an IT project, she must have a security guard for safety; Conrad, is employed as the guard, but he’s there under false pretenses. He’s secretly been tracking Mila, in an effort to find her father Thaddeus, who he’d met some years earlier, when he was assaulted by him while at a youth training camp. He follows Mila back to Queensland where her ailing, father awaits Judgement Day.

The True Midnight Cry covers two generations. There’s a different level of energy between Act 1 and Act 2. Some scenes worked more effectively than others on the small stage. It also contains some coarse language and effective, strobe lighting. The violinist and the technical design complimented the overall performance, and gave it a special ambience and atmosphere.