The Bible’s Book of Kings tells us God comes not with a mighty roar but in a whisper. Bess Wohl’s “Small Mouth Sounds” tells us that humanity comes in silence.
In Orlando, “Small Mouth Sounds” is being presented as an Actors Equity Association Members Project. It’s easy to see why actors are drawn to Wohl’s story, which requires them to convey emotion, character and plot without relying on dialogue in the usual way.
In Wohl’s humorous set-up, six individuals arrive at a self-help retreat run by a guru known for a successful podcast and website. Wohl’s mocking of the platitudes that accompany such events provides early humor. But the kicker is that this is a silent retreat. The primary voice heard by the audience — the offstage guru — is the same voice heard by the fictional retreat participants, bonding us with them.
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And that plays nicely into the playwright’s point that we are all on this crazy journey through life together, each with our own pains and fears — and maybe we should do a better job communicating with one another rather than hoping for some higher power, whether earthly or godly, to “fix” us.
Heavy stuff, but Wohl’s clever format and Matt Horohoe’s direction keep the message from being heavy-handed. The show’s humor takes different forms, all with success: Physical comedy, word play (when words are used), and facial expressions that can say more than a Shakespearean monologue.
Oh, “Small Mouth Sounds” has a couple of monologues, too. Horohoe, who also portrays shy Ned, gets a doozy of one and delivers it with just the right mix of awkwardness, self-pity and cluelessness.
But the biggest joys in this production are found in the silence, when you see these characters trying to connect without the benefit of language. Two shining examples in one brilliant moment: The cocksure look of Rodney (Jose Rivera), a lothario who knows he’s in his prime, as makes a blatantly sexual overture to Judy (Mandi-Jo John), a woman who has seen enough in life to be nothing more than amused, with perhaps just the tiniest sense of being flattered, by his not-so-subtle move.
That’s just one well-crafted moment in a play full of them: A beaming Jan (Pedro Ka’awaloa) sharing a photo he always carries with him; a stunned Joan (Monica Long Tamborello) receiving unwanted news; an emotionally overloaded Alicia (Alaina Rene Kizer) making a quiet but firm decision.
To say more would give too much away, but these actors capture Wohl’s comedy along with their characters’ dramatic arcs as they humorously portray the types of people you meet at retreats (or seminars or other similar events): The rule stickler, the flirt, the hot mess, etc.
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As the unseen teacher, Tracy Wiu (the role is played by other actors on different nights) gives her dialogue a quirky stylized rhythm that adds to the oddity of the situation, but she could do more to differentiate her frame of mind when her own humanity suddenly is brought to light.
Horohoe sometimes lets too much action occur simultaneously, forcing audience members to choose which character or characters to focus on while losing track of what the others are doing. And the lights on opening night occasionally had a mind of their own.
But the sound design (Ray Christianna is credited as “sound mentor”) is a perfect background to once again reinforce this unique play’s ideas: the rebirth through water, the fight to survive in a hostile environment. It’s all right there in the background noise. And it’s all right there in the silence.
Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com . Find more arts news at OrlandoSentinel.com/entertainment .
‘Small Mouth Sounds’
- Length: 90 minutes, no intermission
- Where: Fashion Square Mall, 3201 E. Colonial Drive in Orlando (use entrance opposite parking garage, next to Planet Fitness)
- When: Through July 27
- Cost: $32
- Info: newgentheatrical.org
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