Don't feel too sorry for Danny: yes, he's dead ( due to complications from AIDS ) and, yes, he's anxiously waiting outside the pearly gates of heaven to see if he is allowed in, but he's in great company. Languishing among the fluffy white clouds outside heaven's door is his guardian angel, Judy Garland, who whiles away the time knitting and keeping the stars bright. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Danny's friends are trying to reassemble their lives in the aftermath of his death, including Connor, his former boyfriend, who is compelled to visit a woman he has never met and a woman he despises: his dead partner's mother, Beryl, a woman locked away in a "loony bin" who hasn't uttered a word in two years.
Hushabye Mountain, a play written by Jonathan Harvey ( Beautiful Thing ) , is a skewed, tender story of an extended family coming to terms with the jagged edges of love, friendship and sexuality with the help of some truly fantastical characters. ( In addition to Judy Garland, be on the lookout for appearances by none other than "Julie Andrews" and the "Blessed Virgin Mary" ) .
"Hushabye Mountain goes way beyond what we are used to in terms of plays dealing with AIDS," says the play's director, Gary Griffin, whose previous collaboration with Harvey led to the highly successful U.S. premiere of Beautiful Thing in 1997. "AIDS is a given in the universe of this play, it's part of the culture. Jonathan is looking at how we progress and live with AIDS as it becomes a given, in terms of everything from the evolution of combination therapies to survivor guilt."
In a rare interview with Stage Pass magazine, Harvey described writing the play as a "stressful and emotional process" that was inspired by his own personal experiences. But the playwright was quick to point out that, like Beautiful Thing, Hushabye Mountain's message is "very hopeful and hopefully, enjoyable."
"Jonathan writes about love in a way that is refreshing ... a lot of writers write about it out of anger, but he manages to find the loving relationships that are hidden in hostile environments. He also seems to write a lot about mothering. His mothers are difficult characters and they end up revealing just how much we are shaped by our mothering. I had a very personal reaction to this play when I first read it," continues Griffin. "It was on a visit to England and Jonathan sort of handed it to me...he's very shy about these things...and I think he just sort of hoped that I would do it. But as I said, my reaction to Hushabye Mountain was so strong and so personal, based on my own life experiences, I have to admit I really didn't have any distance from it. I thought I might be in the minority, so I did the same thing Jonathan did, I sort of shyly handed it over to Famous Door and they gave me a resounding 'Yes!' This is right up our alley!" That Famous Door "alley" has led Chicago theatre goers to some rather interesting and unusual places over the years, but this time, the destination is perhaps the strangest of all. Is Hushabye Mountain, by definition, a campy production?
"We're not trying to be campy. Camp is in the eye of the beholder. We're not trying to make you laugh at the convention, but the convention may make you laugh. We're trying to use that convention to bring you to a greater state of awareness," Griffin said.
Patrick New, who plays's Connor's straighter-than-straight brother Lee, echoes Griffin's thoughts. "I don't think this is a campy play, though I think some of the characters exhibit campy traits. But what is interesting is when they use camp and to what end," explains New. "Some characters use it when they are most vulnerable and turn it on when they are afraid to be too real."
New explains the fantastical elements of the play by telling a brief, but true, story: "When I was a kid my dog died and I went to a priest and asked him if I would see my dog in heaven. The priest said 'no.' And I started crying. Then the priest changed his story and said, 'I take that back. When you die if what you want in heaven is your dog, your dog will be there.' Danny idolizes Judy Garland. If Judy Garland is what he wants or chooses to see in the afterlife, then that is his reality. For him its REAL."
Griffin offers this final observation on Harvey's use of the Judy Garland character: "In our need to deal with truths in our lives, difficult truths, sometimes we look to our icons. When icons experience pain we identify with that, we feel connected to that, I know I do."
Laura T. Fisher, who plays the Judy Garland character, says she watched as many of the star's films as she could get her hands on to prepare for the role. "I think I wore out the 'play' and 'rewind' buttons on my VCR," admits Fisher, with a good-natured laugh. "But I decided early on that I would have to pick a place in terms of where she would be in this play, and I finally found it in this particular Jack Parr interview where she is just really funny and giving and loving and wise. ( Pause ) It's also important to remember that I am playing a character based on Judy Garland, I'm not Judy Davis doing Judy Garland!"
Griffin admits that directing Beautiful Thing was more difficult than directing Hushabye, primarily because Beautiful Thing "demands a certain level of naturalism," and Griffin sees theatre as "lending itself more easily to less literal things."
"I hope there are as many reactions to play as there are people," Griffin said. "There is something in this play for everyone to respond to. I hope on a visceral level ... that after audiences leave the theatre their sensitivity is heightened, that they are paying better attention to the person they are with."
Hushabye Mountain runs Sept. 6 through Oct. 7 at The Theatre Building.