'The Diviners' - The right thing undone

From the beginning of "The Diviners," when Zion, Ind., farmer Basil Bennett (Mike Culbertson) announces, "The idiot boy is dead," we know something bad is going to happen in the next two hours. "The Diviners" makes the point that wanting something good to happen, whether through religion or simply trying to do the right thing, doesn't necessarily change anything.

The Southeast Missouri State University Department of Theatre and Dance production of "The Diviners" opens tonight at the Rose Theatre.

The play is set during the Great Depression, when most everybody blames Herbert Hoover and is looking for a sign that God is coming to their rescue. Buddy Layman (Dan Graul) is a 17-year-old boy whose brain was damaged when he almost drowned at age 3 or 4. His mother died trying to save him. Now Buddy is terrified of water, so much so that he refuses to bathe. Maybe that sensitivity is the source of his gift: Finding water with a divining rod.

The play does well not to sentimentalize Buddy. He is as exasperating as he is endearing. He speaks of himself in the third person and scratches his ringworm incessantly. He runs from the rain.

Graul never makes Buddy into a caricature, but gives himself completely to the role. It's a tremendous job of acting.

Buddy is befriended by itinerant C.C. Showers (Adam Rutledge), a preacher who has lost his religion. Showers wants to help Buddy in pragmatic ways, but the townspeople who have been without a minister for 10 years expect more of a miracle from a man of God.

Religious debate

The relationship between Buddy and the ex-preacher is at the heart of "The Diviners," expressing the play's religious debate right down to Showers washing Buddy's feet. Rutledge skillfully conveys the preacher's ambivalence about religion. Together, Graul and Rutledge make you believe.

Another of the play's essential relationships is between Bennett and Buddy's father, Ferris (Tim Nicolai). Bennett does not believe in tractors, Ferris Layman loves cars, but both genuinely like each other. Nicolai, whose forte in past productions has been comedy, can be serious, too.

Moments of humor release the tension that builds in the play like a thunderstorm. As Goldie, the diner owner, Judy Pratcher provides some. She makes a big impression in her first appearance with the University Theatre.

Christy Beckham is just right as the innocent Jennie Mae Layman, Buddy's protective sister and a 16-year-old temptation for the preacher.

Sarah Moore gives the church-starved Norma Henshaw just the right hint of fanaticism, and Sarah Lintner is Basil's wife, Luella, is right there with her. Meredith Lape plays Darlene, Norma Henshaw's flirtatious niece.

Adam Leong and David Whitlock are funny as the Bennetts' hired hands, Melvin and Dewey.

Lighting designer C. Kenneth Cole expertly creates the effect of water without a drop.

The raked stage by scenic designer Dennis C. Seyer is a stark tableau for the play's surging emotions. Rhonda Weller-Stilson's costumes keep with the simple as best formula.

Director Sharon Bebout-Carr does an especially exceptional job of choreographing the wrenching climactic scene.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

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