The news has been pretty bleak this week for San Diego area theaters with the closing of the REP, but that should only reaffirm your commitment to come out to support our local gems. Theater sustains us through dark times as well as entertains us when everything is rosy. The past few years have shown us that life can be sad, hard, confusing, and disappointing, but they also revealed that facing hurdles head-on, can deliver greater understanding, compassion, and growth. Thank you, Roustabouts Producer Phil Johnson and Director Jacole Kitchen for bravely bringing us Rona Monro’s tragic play, Iron.
If Monro’s name rings a bell it may be because she wrote the films Ladybird and Aimee & Jaguar. Her television credits include the series Doctor Who: Survival: Part One, Bumping the Odds, and Rehab. Iron depicts the story of the relationship between a mother and daughter, and two officers in a correctional facility in Scotland where the mother has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her husband.
With credibility and authenticity, the mother, Fay, was inhabited by Rosina Reynolds. This actor/director has been seen on so many stages all over San Diego and always wins acclaim and accolades. Some notable roles include Golda’s Balcony (New Village Arts), Doubt, Mandate Memories, Wit (North Coast Rep), Shirley Valentine, and Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Renaissance Theatre Company) . Reynolds has directed over 30 productions in San Diego including Roosevelt: Charge the Bear, gUnTopia, and Margin of Error (The Roustabouts Theater Co.) Kudos to Reynolds for being a founding artistic director of the Cheguamegon Children’s Theatre in Northern Wisconsin.
Fay’s daughter, Josie, is played by Rosina’s daughter, Kate Rose Reynolds. Another seasoned area actor, the two created a believable mother-daughter relationship fraught with tension and inevitable love. Kate’s theater credits include Margin of Error, (The Roustabouts Theatre Co.) The Humans (San Diego REP), and many others at Scripps Ranch Theatre, Diversionary, and a number of plays in Bristol Valley Theatre in New York. This supremely talented actor also stars in an independent horror film, Soul to Keep, available on streaming platforms. I have personally seen Margin of Error twice and can’t get this actor’s performance out of my head!
Both prison guards provide insight into the issues that attend that line of work, as well as the rigid and inhumane rules that define prison life. Richard Trujillo, George, or Guard 1, has a fascinating monologue on the inequities of sentencing men and women. He wants to see a more equitable system and bemoans the fact that murdering a child leads to a sentence the length of that child’s life, murdering a wife may command a ten-year sentence, but if a woman kills her husband, she is sentenced to life. Trujillo has also graced a number of stages in Arizona, and for the past thirteen years, he has served as the Artistic Director at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts.
Guard 2, Sheila (Jada Alston Owens) does a masterful job of illustrating the tendency to blur boundaries by associating too closely with her inmates. She initially befriends Fay and allows herself to be lulled into a friendship, but then feels she has tipped her hand and offered too many intimate details about her own life, so has to pull back. Ms. Owens’ acting credits include To the Yellow House (La Jolla Playhouse), Blood at the Root (Chautauqua,) and Trouble in Mind (Old Globe Theatre). Owens was slated to appear in Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time at San Diego REP; sadly this performance is canceled.
This play not only explores the fascinating complex mother-daughter relationship but also plumbs the depths of the issues that dog the prison system. The prisoners, visitors, and guards are required to follow protocols that are insulting and invasive. To expand on this aspect, some performances will have talkbacks with speakers who are familiar with the system.
While the content of this play is heavy, it is so well delivered and the cast is so very talented. Please treat yourself to this show. When you purchase your tickets know you are an integral part of keeping our fantastic live theaters viable! I promise you won’t walk out of this show at peace! You will be thinking about it for hours…if not days.
Tickets may be purchased at https://www.theroustabouts.org/tickets. Thursdays through Sundays, the production continues through June 25.
Republished from San Diego Jewish World