Thunder Knocking on the Door
Written by Keith Glover
Music and Lyrics by Keb Mo and Anderson Edwards
Directed by Guinea Bennett-Price
Produced by Soul Rep Theatre Company Pocket Sandwich Theatre
Audience Rating: PG mild language and adult situations
Run Time: 2 hours 25 minutes, including one 15 minute intermission
Accessible Seating: Available
Hearing Devices: Not Available
Sensory Friendly Performance: Not Available
Production Sound Level: Comfortable Volume
Noises or Visuals to Prepare For: None of Note
Reviewed by Jenny Wood
Thunder Knocking on the Door, as presented by Soul Rep Theatre Company in UnderMain’s unique space, makes it easy to forget where you are.
For those unfamiliar, UnderMain’s venue is a designated historic landmark located in a repurposed warehouse basement under Deep Ellum’s Main St, with low ceilings and immovable load bearing pillars throughout the space. You go through a little maze of stairs, doors, lobbies, elevators, to get to the final destination – not unlike making your way to the back room of Chicago’s Kingston Mines or the roof of Austin’s Antone’s.
The environment is perfectly fitting for Keith Glover’s bluesy fable. It opens with a high energy prologue, lively choreography by Hunter Smith showcasing each member of the five person cast in the traditional Broadway fashion, but shortly thereafter, it fully commits to the genre at the heart of the story.
The imp and musician Marvel Thunder (Sinclair Freeman) has previously defeated Good Sister Dupree’s (Yolanda Williams) son Jaguar Jr (Keeyln Singleton) in deal-with-the-devil style cutting contest, resulting in the loss of a prized family heirloom: one of two guitars her deceased husband had crafted for Jaguar Jr. and his twin sister Glory (Olivia Lewis).
When Thunder rents a room in Good Sister’s house with the intent of winning the second cherished guitar from Glory to complete the set, Good Sister’s current beau, Dregster (Jeremy LaVergne) is the first, and for a good while the only, one to see Thunder for what he is.
I have to admit that, at top of show, I was surprised to realize that the production was utilizing tracks rather than live music.
HOWEVER, this turned out to be one of my favorite technical choices of the production. Nash Farmer’s sound design effectively filled the room and gave the tracks a little tinge evoking the tone of an old record on a new turntable. The result directed my attention to voices and movement in a way that live musicians would not have, while preserving key auditory components of the style.
And it was a welcome reminder of how certain art, but not all art, must be experienced live: Singleton has a very affecting dance solo midway through act one, and after striking her deal with Thunder, Lewis brings down the house with an empowering vocal performance.
Williams serves up a strong matriarch, picturesque in the dresses selected by costume designer Renee Jones. Her chemistry with LaVerne makes you forget Dregster was previously Good Sister’s brother-in-law, and the couple provide an endearing foil to the choices made by Glory and Jaguar Jr.
Freeman and Lewis similarly play well together, making the end result of the wager very satisfying for all, except maybe Jaguar Jr.
Or, depending on how you interpret the gleam in Singleton’s eye, maybe Jaguar Jr. ends up the most satisfied of them all.
Thunder Knocking on the Door continues through June 30, SoulRep.org for Tickets.
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