It would seem that pedophilia has been the focus of numerous dramas in the recent past. One of the hazards is attempting to deal effectively with this fiercely emotional subject, without coming off as manipulative, lurid or exploitative. You don’t want to tiptoe, but you don’t to stomp through it like Godzilla. Blake Hackler’s What we were avoids these problems. He explores the lives of three sisters, and impact of their father’s sexual abuse. Carlin, Nell and Tessa are close, their chemistry along the lines of natural order. Carlin, the oldest, is bossy and self-absorbed, Nell the middle sister, is the intercessor and Nell, the baby, is vulnerable, naive, less encumbered. When we see them for the first time, Tessa’s only six, and Carlin is beginning adolescence. They are squabbling over who gets to play each particular character from (the nighttime soap) Dynasty.
What we were hopscotches through these sisters lives, which is to say: events do not fall in chronological order. Nell tries desperately to prevent Tessa from joining their father for one of his private “sleepovers” in the barn. Obviously Nell understands the implications, but Tessa is thrilled by her dad’s special attention. Next Nell reports the abuse to the authorities, and Tessa is sent to live with a foster family. Over time, Tessa goes off the radar, requesting that her whereabouts be concealed from her biological family. We gather she’s changing names, to shut off pain, or perhaps her trauma has fomented identity disorder. Meanwhile, Carlin and Nell hire private detectives, trying to track Tessa down. After a number of false alarms and disappointments, Carlin gives up (the personal upheaval too much) but Nell soldiers on.
Hackler’s deep dive into this fragile, explosive material, is cunning and sentient, if somewhat obtuse. The pieces don’t fall together easily. There are carefully wrought omissions. The better to involve us in this not entirely despairing narrative. We see what each sister does to cope with the damage to their souls, the emotional wounds, the inexplicable betrayals and frantic need to preserve the grace of Family. The meticulous order of episodes gives them a nuanced resonance, an unexpected clarity that might be lost in a conventional approach. The details of their father’s monstrous behavior are not disclosed, it isn’t necessary. What we are given is witness to the fractured spirits of the girls. How they bandage excruciation and try to move on.
The cast of What we were (Lydia Mackay, Jenny Ledel, Jessica D. Turner, Benjamin Stegmair) manages to evince this story with understated, precise poignancy. There is an aching urgency suffusing their performances. It’s as if they’ve lived with this tiger so long they’ve pushed it away, but still heed the danger. It would have been easy for a show of this kind to have fall into the abyss, to blow up in our faces. But the mastery of these actors, and Hackler’s conscientious, emotionally intelligent script helps us past the rapacious predators.
Second Thought Theatre presents What we were, playing August 28th – September 21st. 2019. Bryant Hall at the Kalita Humphreys Theater. 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd, Dallas, Texas 75219. 866-811-4111. info@secondthoughttheatre.com