By Tracy Hawkins
In 2017, the world was mesmerized by a brief grainy video of a jogger pushing a woman, who fell into the path of a bus on a bridge in London. The man was never caught, and the woman’s name never released to the press. The bus driver, who heroically acted quickly to avoid hitting her, came forward in hopes of helping the police to catch the perpetrator.
Irish playwright Sonya Kelly’s play “Once Upon a Bridge” recreates what is known of that incident and fills in the many blanks with a plausible imagined backstory for the man and the woman, how they came to be on the bridge, and what happened afterwards. The action begins with a series of monologues, which accelerate as the action moves toward the fated confrontation. At 75 minutes, there isn’t much time to meet these people, but you do. Such is the power of the writing, and the truth in the acting, that you can imagine these people in your own life.
Inis Nua Theatre Company celebrates its 20th Anniversary season with the East Coast premiere of “Once Upon a Bridge” by Sonya Kelly. Photo by Ashley Smith of Wide Eye Studios
Inis Nua, based at The Drake and presenting works from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England, has done Philadelphia theater goers a great service by bringing this work to the stage. It is powerful and affecting, and beautifully performed. Director Brett Ashley Robinson has assembled a stellar cast with local treasure Walter DeShields as the Bus Driver, Alice Yorke as the Woman, and David Pica as the Man.
Ms. Yorke’s superb portrayal of the young Irish woman who is feisty and strong, yet vulnerable is both funny and touching as she struggles to move forward, and to protect herself but not be a victim. Mr. DeShields’ Bus Driver is a hard-working husband and father wanting to do the right thing, but concerned about how all of this will affect his livelihood and his ability to provide for his family. His anger at the unknown assailant is punctuated with the belief that one day, it will all catch up to him, “Money keeps you out of jail, but it won’t set your conscience free.”
Mr. Pica’s character is charming and witty; a man who gets what he wants, and what he believes he deserves. You find yourself liking the character in spite of yourself, until he shows his true colors when he perceives a threat to his golden existence. When he throws away $25K to entertain clients, it is in contrast to the $25K in law school loans that the Woman has incurred, or the $25K in annual salary that the Bus Driver will lose if he is fired for being late returning his bus to the depot. The $25K is the one thing that these three have in common – in addition to being on Putney Bridge the morning of May 5, 2017.
The dramatic set design (Christopher Haig), and lighting (Dominic Chacon) are all exemplary. Liz Atkinson’s sound design puts you on the bridge, and Leigh Paradise’s costumes are letter-perfect. Len Kelly should be recognized as dialect coach, as each character has a distinctive accent, and two out of the three move smoothly between two or more accents.
If you go (and you should): The show runs with no intermission. Performances continue through March 24, and they have added a Saturday matinee to the schedule. 302 S. Hicks Street (south of Spruce bet 15th & 16th) in the Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake. Visit www.inisnuatheatre.org for tickets.