Sunday Books & Culture
This week’s reviews include Alison Gaylin’s psychological thriller “We are Watching” and Fredericksburg Theater Ensemble’s production of “Holy Ghosts.”
Books & Culture is edited by Vanessa Sekinger
WE ARE WATCHING
by Alison Gaylin
Published by William Morrow (January 28, 2025)
Hardcover $24.00
Audiobook $17.63
Reviewed by Penny A Parrish
I have a love/hate relationship with social media. I frequently look up things I can’t remember (“Who starred in a certain movie?”) or use maps to get me from point A to B. But I have a limited online presence and don’t use many of the popular sites, many of which have become controversial.
In this book, social media and conspiracy theories take center stage. It begins with Meg and Justin driving their daughter Lily to college in Ithaca. But a horrible accident ensues in which Meg loses control of the car. Her husband is thrown from the vehicle and killed. And Meg and Lily are shattered. What caused the accident? It came on the heels of a car next to them full of bizarre young men who were taking photos of Lily.
Four months later, Meg is trying to get her life back together at the small bookstore she and Justin created. It’s a hub for young and old in their small town. But strange things continue to pop up. A man across the street taking photos again. A woman coming into the store screaming. Social media posts about a novel called The Prophecy written by Meg when she was a teenager. That imaginative story includes references to the plague and a specific upcoming date. And the book has become more than fodder for a group of extremists. Add to this scenario the issue of Meg’s dad, a reclusive once-famous musician whose music is now the theme for the conspiracy.
The author takes all these threads and weaves them into an unsettling and scary story that could happen to any of us, had we written something or posted something online that was misconstrued by those with a warped or evil agenda. Many of the other characters are old friends of Meg’s family – or are they? Lily is close to two boys, the shy Zach and her boyfriend Carl. Are they involved in the dangerous activities that threaten Meg and her family? Not until the end of this book, which was hard to put down, do we find the answers to these questions.
If you are looking for an enthralling page-turner for winter as you sit in front of the fire, and hear strange noises, this is a good one. The author has won several awards for her books, and this one will certainly be a candidate for future recognition. Because what we read here could really happen – and is perhaps happening as I type…
Penny A Parrish is a long-time book reviewer and artist. Learn more about her by visiting her page at Brush Strokes Gallery, which is in downtown Fredericksburg.
HOLY GHOSTS
by Romulus Linney
Produced by Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble
Directed by Allyson MacCormick
Reviewed by Dennis Wemm
I’ll be reviewing the play in a moment, but the professor I was for three-and-a-half decades won’t let me avoid a definition of terms:
ca·thar·sis /kəˈTHärsəs/ The process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from strong or repressed emotions.
Holy Ghosts is a play about catharsis. This is not a bad thing; in fact catharsis is, according to Aristotle, the entire reason why we perform and watch tragedies, to purge ourselves from negative emotions. In this production we meet a lot of people who REALLY need to purge themselves. And they do it onstage.
In a one room church of no particular denomination in the Deep South, the congregation slowly gathers (14 members and one extra) to worship, to testify, and to support each other in a special way. The testimony of each person could be the subject of an 80’s country western song, and it increases dramatically in importance and urgency as the action goes on. It culminates in a cathartic service. There is no collection. The catharsis is a snake-handling ceremony. And that’s it. But it’s not that simple, either.
No matter what you happen to do for worship it’s an experience to have seen. The performances are a bit over-the-top, but they remain true to the over-the-top life experiences that are revealed to us. The stories we hear may seem ridiculous in brief: a young man carries around the collar of his deceased dog, to which he talks, or they may be engaging, or they may be enraging (a church leader has buried five wives and is now moving on to a sixth), a man with terminal cancer has no given name other than “Cancer Man.” They are all extreme and challenge the norms of what people should do with their lives, but their choice of isolating themselves in this tiny, highly personal worship center creates a sharing culture.
That’s a rather large plate for a very serious comedy, and playwright Linney and director MacCormick have filled that plate with delicious character studies like a country church dinner. This action is observed by Nancy, a young wife with a marital history of traumatic disappointment; and her estranged husband Coleman who is so controlled by his dead father that he has never truly been himself. They are separated and incommunicado. Nancy, through a tragic series of incidents that sound ridiculous to us, has joined the congregation because they accept her as a lost soul, sort of like everyone else in the church. Every other person in the church is equally tragic and equally pathetic and equally defensive of those things that make each feel whole. Only a Southerner like Linney could present these characters in all their dimensions, and he does it with love and compassion.
The performances are fresh and raw. The action scenes, though well motivated, have a symbolic quality that works well for the whole production concept. Fights and violence focus on their emotional effects, not the physical ones (no fake blood from a punched face, only highly believable pain expressed and suppressed by the victim). No snakes are harmed in the production of the play.
On entering the space we’re greeted by a largish room decorated as many country churches are, with stained wood and no stained glass. Frosted windows don’t quite hide the characters as they approach the entrance, adding to anticipation. Movement into the space is natural and the stage is split well (the center column is put to good use). Recorded sound and music support the action, but everything in the church service is performed on piano and guitar believably by the performers. The fourth wall is firmly in place.
Nancy and Coleman are the central characters, and we’re invited most deeply into their back story and most strongly invested in their growth. Clarisse Swartley and Alex Newton provide us with ample motivation to like them, and care about their interactions with the congregation. We care about them and what will follow.
The congregation is a wonderful collection of characters whose personal conflicts reside just beneath their easily summarized character “types” like Tennessee catfish living near the shore. We see the images of who they “are” but the real person inside is more beautiful (and more ugly) than the reflected image on the surface.
A pair of roughnecks unashamedly share and express their love for each other (played by Marcus Lawrence and Nate Nelson); Cancer Man (John Hollinger) gratefully accepts the trust of a young couple (Kelsey Nicholson and Jonathan Price) who ask him shyly to be godfather to their infant son (who unrealistically never lets out a peep in church). Jared Elton, as Coleman’s lawyer, sheds his skepticism because of the refreshing welcome of the church (and because of his failing health).
Christian Gordon is the son of the preacher man, who finds his own voice and a new salvation in bowling alleys. Carl Specter is the aforementioned dog mourner whose story brought audible gasps of emotional connection from the opening night audience. Mrs. Wall, the church pianist, sheds her purse-lipped persona as a polite church lady to shame unbelievers with her story of personal redemption.
Lisa Lynn is a new member of the congregation who has been “stalking” the church for a while, but dives directly into the action and accepts the church in all its implications. Liam Thompson plays Virgil, the church’s acolyte who is practically silent for most of the show but finds his voice when he is no longer in control of it.
As necessary in a charismatic congregation, the church has a pair of leaders: the Reverend Obediah Buckhorn, Sr. (Devon Clark), and the church’s unofficial greeter and den mother, Bonnie, played by Kristian Trice. They are the Ozzie and Harriet of their unruly church family, but perfectly believable in their characterizations.
The tendency with reviewers is to focus on a couple of “stars” as if Oscars were the important things, but this play defies the ordinary tendency to hand out gold stars. Everyone in the ensemble (it is the Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble after all) does real justice in bringing their characters to life. I enjoyed the performances of each and every one.
Jonathan Price (doing double as actor and Combat Choreographer) and Fox Mealo Cornell (as Intimacy Coordinator) have performed their work well. They bring an internal realism to the difficult cathartic moments shown in the play, without allowing us to get worried about the performers themselves. In a world where Rust really happened, this is a necessary relief for an audience that’s literally ten feet away from the performers.
The Allstate stage space is really wide and not very deep, but MacCormick and the performers handle its issues with ease. My only quibbles with the show are that sometimes the focus of the lights is not where the actors are (there’s a dark spot down center that will not go away, and down center is where the actors go to fill us in on the plot). Also, the snake handling scenes are very convincing and generally the only place I’m focusing attention on, but the other side of the stage is more brightly lit. They should commit to the symbolic unreality of those moments, because they have a clear segue into and out of the play’s reality. End of lecture.
So is it cathartic? I’d have to say yes. My snarky mind wanted to doubt the likability of the characters once the snakes were introduced (supposedly inside wooden boxes). However I found myself sharing the very vocal and active reactions of the audience, who made themselves into interactive performers.
You should go.
Dennis Wemm is a retired professor of theatre and communication, having taught and led both departments at Glenville State College for 34 years. In his off time he was president and sometimes Executive Director of the West Virginia Theatre Conference, secretary and president of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, and generally enjoyed a life in theatre.
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