There is a discomfort that sets in around this time of year. As the weather continues to oscillate, we have to try and keep up with the changes. The weather isn’t all that changes — it only takes a cursory glance at the news to send your mood spiraling. This sense of frustration, of foreboding tumult, is the perfect backdrop for Crow City Theatre’s production of “Pomona,” which runs at MuCCC through Sunday, March 30.
The show is the company’s third since their launch in September 2023, and all three shows have been produced and directed by Matt Ralyea. With each production, Crow City establishes their niche as a theatrical home for all things thriller and mystery-based.
“Pomona,” written by British playwright Alistair McDowall, was commissioned for The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 2014 and performed at The Gate Theatre in London that same year. The plot centers around the man-made Pomona Island in Manchester, UK, a real strip of overgrown land tucked within the city. Once serving as a successful entertainment center, an explosion at a chemical factory nearby left its landscape unusable, save for a few docks that closed in the 1980s. Since then, Pomona has been deserted.
A place like Pomona, surrounded by everything and yet still invisible to society, is prime real estate for the seedy underbelly of a city, rife with Lovecraftian horrors in real life — maybe. The show sets itself on two sides of a role-playing game (RPG) campaign, focusing on the characters and players alike, but it’s not quite certain who exists on each side. This level of abstraction pervades the entire show, for better or worse.
“Pomona” struggles at its start to get off the ground, with a warped, vignette-based timeline and fast pace causing immediate confusion. Combine that with the Saturday Night Live “High School Theatre Show”-esque transitions, glow-in-the-dark Hot Topic costuming on actors, reliance on amateur fight choreography and unnatural use of British-isms in American dialects, and the show becomes almost too theatrical to invest in.
Despite these jarring kinks, just like a new Dungeons & Dragons campaign, the further the plot progresses, the easier it is to engage. The show is at its best when it sinks into the characters interacting with each other one-on-one or fully invests in the surrealist parts of its plot. The gritty fates of each character shown at the beginning melt away, letting the actors and staging shine and play against each other.
The cast, which is composed of well-versed local acting talent, handles these weighty, sometimes unwieldy roles with the right investment to make them stick. That definitely helps both the lighthearted comedy and sharp drama aspects of the show, which could struggle to land without that same commitment.
The heart of the show comes from Ben McRae and Kiyomi Oliver’s dynamic as the steely Moe and geeky Charlie. The two actors have been in every Crow City production since its inception, and it’s easy to see why. Oliver’s awkward physicality as a comedic actor is at its best when juxtaposed against McRae’s gruff stillness.
McRae’s vulnerability flashes through his anger most in scenes with Oliver, as well as a particularly heart-wrenching scene all about intimacy and violence with sex worker Fay (played by Anna Eggleton). It’s easy to root for these characters despite their faults, or at least understand what brought them to their current situation.
Similar to the barrier for entry with the characters, the aesthetic of “Pomona” initially reads as dark for darkness’ sake, but grows with the show. The set is sparse, littered with crates and boxes, so the gorgeously graffitied backdrop is striking.
Bolan Graham mingles with audience members and munches on chicken nuggets before the show as distant landowner Zeppo. After his rambling monologue at the top of the show, he shifts into the background but is impossible to miss, with red heart-shaped glasses glinting in front of an incredibly well-rendered tentacle or old-school Pikachu.
It’s hard to say whether the show is best enjoyed with previous knowledge of the script or not, but the show would be better enjoyed with multiple viewings simply due to its density. Those with a penchant for unraveling plot lines and sprawling, convoluted narratives might appreciate watching the show with an understanding of its trajectory in advance — getting ahead of the jump feels grounding in a show full of instability.
The parts of the show that linger are based in reality and personality; easy to latch onto after letting the story settle. Post-show, the rabbit hole of information on the real Pomona awaits, alongside the very real fear that what happens in this show may not skew too far from a distant truth.
“Pomona” runs through March 30 at MuCCC. Visit here for more info and tickets.
Alyssa Koh is an intern for CITY. She can be reached at alyssa@rochester-citynews.com.
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2024.
