TheaterWorks has a skewed view of love. Look at the romance-driven boy/girl dramas they’ve staged in the past few seasons: the metaphysical mindblower “Constellations,” the bag-of-money-fueled “Midsummer” and the literary coupling “Sex With Strangers.” Fraught, psychologically strained hook-ups, all of them.
Now comes “The River.” It’s a metaphor, a mystery. It asks whether people are honest in relationships and whether they should be.
A character known only as The Man has brought The Woman to his remote fishing cabin in the woods. It’s a lovely cabin, the kind that might be featured in “Cottage Living” magazine, with dark-stained wooden walls, simple yet elegant furnishing and well-organized shelves and pantries.
But The Man comes here mainly to fish. He rhapsodizes about it. We see him physically gut a real fish, then expertly season it, then cook it in a cast-iron oven, while playing classical music on a small CD player in the cabin’s main room.
Some of the best scenes take place in silence. They provide solace but also suspense. We see a man alone with his thoughts. Then we wonder when someone might enter the cabin from outside or emerge from the bedroom.
That’s because besides The Woman there is The Other Woman. The man’s tales of romance, adventure and self-realization, we learn, have been told before. Does this diminish them? And when the women tell their own stories and are found sometimes to be lying or dissembling or just not taking things seriously, do we feel differently?
There are recitations from the ancient Roman writer Aelian and the poets William Butler Yeats and Ted Hughes. There’s also foul language and looks of disgust and dismay. There’s nice clothing, then there are wading boots. There’s a delicious meal, of a fish we’ve just seen gutted. We feel art and beauty being added to a romance, and we also feel those things being taken away as uncomfortable realities intrude.
“The River” was written by Jez Butterworth, the internationally acclaimed British author of the social satire “Jerusalem” featuring a man who lives in a caravan in the woods and the current Broadway hit “The Ferryman” featuring a man who lives in an Irish farmhouse. Butterworth’s plays take place in isolated areas but reflect the problems of the big outside world.
“The River” is mostly about communication and connection. Rob Ruggiero’s properly moody, misty and mysterious production at TheaterWorks spends a lot of time making sure that the conversations between The Man and the two women are believable.
The secret appears to be eye contact. The performers gaze into each other’s eyes longingly. They share stories of family, past relationships and fishing. They speak of their childhoods and their desires to settle down. They hold onto dreams. Whenever they look away from each other, we know something’s wrong.
The globe-trotting actor Billy Carter —who has starred in earthy contemporary dramas at major theaters in Ireland, England and the U.S., and who also has strong classical chops — gives a carefully calibrated, largely understated and sullen performance as The Man. Andrea Goss is radiant as The Woman, wielding a friendly smile and wide-open expression while also telegraphing a guarded, self-protective stance. As The Other Woman, Jasmine Batchelor is more physical and outspoken than the other characters. She brings a sense of wildness to this woodsy retreat.
Plot-wise, it’s not nice to reveal more, except to say that the surprises of “The River” aren’t shocking or grotesque (except maybe for that poor fish). The play is creepy without being horrific. There are no strong images of sex or violence in the show, just the usual TheaterWorks measure of “adult content and language.”
What “The River” delivers is disillusionment. Worry. Fear. Passions paused by uncertainty. It has a rather simple message, and fishing could be seen as a rather obvious metaphor. But with artistry and nuance, Butterworth and TheaterWorks give “The River” a flowing grace.
The RIVER, by Jez Butterworth, directed by Rob Ruggiero, runs through Nov. 11 at TheaterWorks, 233 Pearl St., Hartford. Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2:30 and 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The Oct 13 matinee is at 3:30 p.m., not 2:30 p.m., and is free for students. Tickets are $45 to $70. 860-527-7838, theaterworkshartford.org.
