Sweet Storm by Scott Hudson features two rather simple country people, one of them disabled and unable to walk, in a tree house outside of Lithia Springs, Florida on their wedding night. It is not a sophisticated, intellectual play. Neither Ruthie, played brilliantly by Jamie Dunn, nor Bo, well-acted by Eric T. Miller, have anything particularly complicated to say to each other. However, the skillful acting and competent direction (by Padraic Lillis) of this production allow the two actors, despite their characters' simple country ways, to take us up to surprising heights of happiness and elation and down to painful depths of hurt and despair, with a good deal of humor in between.
The acoustics of the little theater on west 42nd Street are excellent, which permits the actors, who communicated with uncommon clarity, a range of subtle emotion and softly modulated expression. The lighting,
by Sarah Sidman, fails to seize the wonderful romantic possibilities posed by two attractive lovers in a tree house at night, lit by kerosene lanterns.
