Robert Bailey's "In Some Dark Valley" an Appalachian Story Spellbinder
Tuesday, June 11th, Los Angeles, CA
written by Entertainment Editor, Dan Ruth
We tend to think that the darkness of the American Civil War took place hundreds and hundreds of years ago, and that it exists in a place far, far away in a corner of our history that cannot be touched. In reality, it ended only 159 years ago and the consequences and repercussions from the war are still felt today. There is a genre of theatre and I suppose storytelling, which relies on these spans of time to weave and spin haunting tales of a time before our time, when stories were handed down through generations. Robert Bailey has created such a story, a story that contains no trace of today’s modern built world, where the only water around was in the river or creek that runs by the village, when messages were sent by horseback and protection for your village and the people that surrounded you was in the hands of God and the elements. In the tradition of theatre such as “The Diviners” by Jim Leonard Jr. and Romulus Linney’s “Holy Ghosts,” Robert Bailey steps out of that tradition with his finely crafted In Some Dark Valley: The Testimony of Reverend Brand, which is playing at The Madnani Theatre, as part of The Hollywood Fringe.
Bailey’s creation of Reverend Brand is a fiery post-Civil War roaming circuit preacher, who has visitations and sees signs in nature; a man who is much more human than holy. As a young boy and a product of backwoods Appalachian life, he sees people as they are. He befriends Ludie, an African American woman and her two small boys, only to return one day to find their entire house burnt to the ground and the three of them gone forever. Life in the holler challenges young Reverend Brand on every level, both spiritual and physical. Later in his life, he is the only man in his village to go down river to save the life of a dying man. This act of bravery causes the villagers to want to keep him as their preacher, but when Reverend Brand uses money from his wealthy deceased mother to rebuild the village church, he is rebuked when he allows black folk into the congregation. Darkness and specters follow the preacher throughout his life. As he loses both his wife and his child to disease, he relies on the humanity of circumstances to make sense of this cruel, confusing world, buried deep in the holler. Ultimately, it’s the Reverend who must question what is right. He sees that the church is hollow, and that man, God, and death, are all part of the much larger, natural world, and that no one, not even a man of God can save themselves.
In Some Dark Valley truly is delightfully dark but there is also humor and outstanding storytelling through finely etched characters. Using not only spoken word, but songs and the haunting sounds of a French harp as well, Robert Bailey’s In Some Dark Valley: The Testimony of Reverend Brand is a powerful and highly entertaining show that takes full advantage of the lights and a full sound design to draw you into its musty, backwoods world. Directed by Billy Siegenfeld.
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