Voices in the Wind, January 2012
Frank (Gregg Rainwater) and his wife Diane (Noelle Dupuis) enter an antique
shop one day in search of an artefact. They encounter the shop-owner Mr. Sagen (Norm McLeod), who points them towards an old
cylindrical gramophone ...
What starts off as a normal run-of-the-mill shopping trip ends up as a nightmare,
as Frank is transported back in time to 1903. His name has changed into Johnny (a neat allusion to the old American popular
song "Frankie and Johnny"), and he is now married to Mabel (both roles played by the same actors), with a daughter Virginia
(Alexandra Poole).
The ensuing action switches between the early twentieth century and the preent day,
with Frank/ Johnny becoming more and more perplexed: is he going mad, or is he actually being transported back in time. Each
reference to the song "Every Now and Then," a popular hit in 1903, serves only to confuse him further. Both Diane and Mabel
become increasingly worried about him, as he is clearly not the man they married.
The action of Zarr's play culminating in an exciting climax, as Johnny is
involved in a shipwreck, and subsequently transported back to the present at the very moment when he appears to have lost
his family ... As Frank, he breathes a sigh of relief; he does not have to suffer any more. He thinks that what has happened
is all a dream ... but is it?
The subject of time-travel is a perennially popular one, ever since H. G. Wells published
The Time Machine in 1895. Author Zarr creates an intriguing suspense-drama, focusing in particular on Frank/ Johnny's
increasingly confused state of mind, as he does not really know whether he has been transported back to the past,
or returned to the present. Gregg Rainwater offers a vocally nuanced performance, oscillating between extreme confidence
and fear.
I see from the Voices in the Wind website that Every Now and Then
has been selected for inclusion in the Radio Drama category at the Atlanta Fringe Festival, later in 2012. I think the
play deserves serious consideration for an award.
