Review: In Some Dark Valley: The Testimony of Reverend Brand, White Bear Theatre

Writer and performer Robert Bailey leads us through a mountainous trail of Post-Civil War fundamentalism as a circuit of preaching draws Reverend Brand back to the god-forsaken home town he’d sought to escape. With two blocks and a harmonica, Bailey conjures up Appalachian apparitions, while haunting folk melody and eerie multi-roling coax us further down the Reverend’s “path to righteousness and exaltation”. 

After a murky introduction to the ghosts of his former life, a perky Brand begins his testimony with childhood “now that we are getting on so well”. Bailey brings surprising warmth to his zealot allowing his flock to ‘get along’ with him through the myriad of quirky characters he embodies; the first being his miserly mother, whose crookedness seeps through wringing hands and a high, unhinged Southern drawl. And as the death of Brand’s aged father is retold through boyish eyes, senior performer Bailey springs across the thrust stage. 

A second maternal influence comes from an African-American neighbour who is brought to life through her alternative take on the ‘Adam & Eve’ story. Bailey assumes a reclined rocking chair posture and mimes persimmon peeling as he regales the creation of a diverse human kind moulded from clay. Racial tensions run through the play and witnessing Brand’s continued call for integration further binds us to him. 

However, we begin to unravel in the interpretation of wife Agnes who feels creepily stilted; more ghoul than girlfriend. As the “cold, clammy” atmosphere is well maintained through chiaroscuro lighting shifts, Agnes could provide the redeeming features to mountain life; yet in her husband’s overbearing shadow, she becomes a quivering wreck. Much more spirited is their son who brings cheekiness to the family fold. But his role is too short-lived. 

As this valley begins to resemble ‘Death Valley’, the grieving Reverend mounts one last stand against his disillusioned parishioners. God’s image is debated as Brand rails against a white bearded visage for a young soldier “whipping the Yankees”. He also challenges the Church’s four walls of exclusion, instead choosing an open place of worship founded on grass with the sky as its ceiling. 

This inspiring message would seem the natural summit for Reverend Brand’s redemption arc but unfortunately the climb limps on to an even murkier end that blurs the line between divinity and derangement. 

Bailey’s brand of drama is absorbing and well-structured but one can’t help but be grateful to escape those dark valleys. You may not want to ‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’ but there’s much here to ‘peak’ your interest. 

Directed by Billy Siegenfeld
Produced by John Robinson and Cori Allison
Sound Design by Phillip Saguil

In Some Dark Valley plays at The White Bear until Saturday 4 April.