Animal Tales

Because They Have No Words. Weirdsmobile Productions. The Lounge Theatre. 9/3/06.



Tim Maddock wrote Because They Have No Words as well as playing its main character. He went to New Orleans three weeks after Hurricane Katrina to volunteer in animal rescue, and he has crafted those experiences into an earnest and poignant play. That, in iself, is the major accomplishment of this play; this is the first theatrical response to Hurricae Katrina that I've seen (though I know there have been some, especially in more closely affected areas). Stories from Katrina are good stories to tell, and this play feels vey much like Maddock's exploration of those events and a way of coping with the intense experience of witnessing the aftermath of the hurricane.

It's a production full of honesty and humor, emphasized by a talented cast. Tisha Terrasini Banker, Rufus Bonds, Jr., Lanai Chapman, LeShay Tomlinson, and Colin Walker each play multiple roles across race and gender (and occasionally across sexuality or species) and do so mostly without relying on stereotypes or charicatures (although one moment of imitating an Asian person running a yard sale was a bit awkward to me).

Interspersed with the story of his trip to New Orleans after Katrina, Maddock related an earlier trip to the same city, making it the site of his coming out story. Colin Walker in the dual roles of a gay waiter who picks up the young Maddock and as Maddock's present-day boyfriend creates a sensitive contextualization of Maddock's sexuality that adds depth to the play. This story framed the trip to New Orleans really well

At over two and a half hours, Because They Have No Words could still use some editing. It relied strongly on narration rather than dialogue so that at times it felt more like stoytelling than theater, but parts of the storytelling were so well-crafted that that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Especially in the first act, Maddock, with co-writer Lotti Louise Pharriss and director Emilie Beck, balanced difficult and tragic moments with upbeat humor so that I was on the brink of tears several times thoughout the play, but immediately drawn back into the story with a laugh. Other moments were not quite so successful; I was especially disturbed by the fact that I was more moved and touched by the play's stories about animals that I was by Maddock's discussion of his mother's death. I actually think that the moment when Maddock confronts his mother's death by vising her grave near the end of the play should be cut, though that's a rather harsh thing to say. The major drawback of the play was its tendency toward moralizing; It really wanted to do all the interpretation for you and put words into everyone's mouths. I felt that the ending was a bit awkward, but it was a heartfelt play and I applaud those that made it happen, now, a year after the event.

By telling the stories of animals and animal-rescue volunteers after Hurricane Katrina, Because They Have No Words is also telling the story of the people affected by Katrina. It tells of those left behind and ignored by the govenment or by other people, it tells of people separated from pets who were members of their family, it tells of volunteer workers who thought they were doing the right thing, even when they weren't. All of these are stories that need to be told and retold, so that hopefully this never happens again.