Review: Southern Gothic ghosts get stirring in Alliance’s ‘Covenant’
This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
“Everybody’s got secrets,” says Ruthie (Alaysia Renay Duncan) in the opening line of the new ghost story “Covenant,” on the Alliance Theatre’s Hertz Stage through Nov. 9.
The warning proves heartbreakingly true for Ruthie and nearly everyone in this Southern Gothic world where faith, family and forbidden longing linger like ghosts. Written by York Walker and directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, the production is staged with careful craft and theatrical flourish, bringing the play’s moody, haunted world to life.
“Covenant” unfolds in a small, unnamed Georgia town sometime in the 1930s, where blues guitarist Johnny “Honeycomb” James has returned from two years on the road with a new gift: a seemingly otherworldly talent that sets the town whispering. Rumors swirl through town that he made a deal with the devil for his musical prowess, while others believe that the rumors are just more evidence of the town’s stultifying smallness, rigidity and parochialism.
That combination of myth and suspicion gives “Covenant” its atmosphere, and it’s a play that stakes everything on atmosphere. The production is rich in tension and texture. Thunder rolls through the house, and strange lights pulse at the edge of a graveyard.
It’s a curious combination of a minimalist stage — simple wooden furniture and few props — with a maximalist production of sound, lighting and effects turned up high. Scary has to be one of the most difficult tones to create or sustain onstage, and, to that end, the Alliance largely succeeds.
The world of “Covenant” recalls the recent hit film “Sinners,” another tale of Southern repression, secrets and supernatural suggestion. Walker’s play predates the film, but the resemblance is striking.
Both are rooted in generational trauma and a cultural fascination with pacts, guilt and damnation; both are set in small Southern towns; both are backed by blues music and related myths. Yet where “Sinners” leans into psychological realism, showcasing a large ensemble of characters and their social world in the context of a vampire story, “Covenant” opts for the Victorian ghost story’s slow build with a supernatural payoff.
Kajese-Bolden directs with a keen ear for rhythm, place and mood. The Hertz’s narrow, elongated space, framed by a wide proscenium arch, creates a stage where the actors can move freely yet remain close enough to make the audience feel that they are almost inside the house where much of the action occurs.
The pace is brisk and perhaps even accelerated; the story’s many turns come fast, and, at times, one wishes for a little more breathing room. Still, at 95 minutes, the play lasts exactly as long as its premise can sustain.
The ensemble is uniformly strong.
Jemarcus Kilgore as Johnny brings easy warmth and charm to the role, though the script’s premise — that his music might be supernaturally great — asks more of the sound than his pleasant singing voice and competent guitar playing can quite supply. The blues should sound otherworldly here.
The standout is Brittany Deneen as Violet. What begins as a comic, skeptical supporting “kid sister” role deepens into something more serious and affecting, and Deneen handles that shift with clarity and humor.
Deidrie Henry’s devout and domineering mother is chillingly credible; her unwavering belief in sin and punishment becomes, by the end, the play’s governing logic.
The design team earns special mention.
Melanie Chen Cole’s sound design is the production’s engine, a near-constant presence that operates like a sixth character. Low rumbles of thunder, the moan of wind and a well-timed rain of rocks — one of the evening’s most effective surprises — create an aural world far bigger than the physical set.
Jiyoun Chang’s spooky lighting, crucial for a suspenseful tale of the supernatural, is subtle and sure, shading scenes from intimate warmth to uncanny menace.
Where “Covenant” falters is in its resolution. For much of the play, Walker keeps the source of the haunting ambiguous, letting secrets and human cruelty do the work of horror. When the story confirms a literal supernatural presence, the psychological tension drains away.
The closing vision is apparent confirmation of the town’s most puritanical imaginings: It feels oddly neat and thematically confused, a conclusion that surprises and entertains but doesn’t satisfy.
Even so, this is a solid, well-acted, technically impressive production that gives audiences a rare kind of theatrical thrill — the spooky, goosebump-inducing kind. In a medium where horror is notoriously hard to pull off, “Covenant” proves that suggestion, sound and secrecy can go a long way.
It may not leave you haunted for days, but as an atmospheric Halloween season offering, it delivers.
THEATER REVIEW
“Covenant”
Through Nov. 9 at Alliance Theatre. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets start at $65. 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. alliancetheatre.org.
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Andrew Alexander is an Atlanta-based writer.
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