Collectively, the words ‘fear’ and ‘afraid’ or some variant appear at least 30 times in the script for Janine Sobeck Knighton’s new play The Beatrix Potter Defense Society, in a gorgeous jewel box of a production by Plan-B Theatre.
Set in 1882 on the grounds of England’s Wray Castle, Ambleside (Cumbria), in the Lake District, a 16-year-old Beatrix Potter encounters Edith Rawnsley, who lives in the nearby vicarage. Caught outdoors by Rawnsley in the middle of an October night, Potter cannot bear leaving the Lake District and returning with her family to her Kensington home in London. “I will not go back! I can’t! It is already too much. I fear I…,” Potter says and stops in the middle of her thoughts. Later in their exchange, Rawnsley, who is 37, says, “Come, it’s a little early for you to have such a fear. You are just sixteen, yes?,” adding, “the acknowledgement of one’s fear is not a moral failing.”
by Janine Sobeck Knighton, directed by Cheryl Ann Cluff,
Plan-B Theatre.
Indicative of how astutely Knighton has woven the historical facts of the formative circumstances in Potter’s celebrated life as an author, naturalist and conservationist, the young Beatrix finally admits “Fine. I was afraid. That this new place would put an end to the only bearable moments of my life. That once again I would be left to languish in my solitude. And so, when we arrived…I couldn’t…I couldn’t allow my heart to open to this place. Not if I would never be allowed to explore it.”
Everything about this two-hander is dazzling artistic elegance. Directed by Cheryl Ann Cluff, actors Sibley Snowden (Potter) and Flo Bravo (Rawnsley) excel as natural sisters who discover how much they share not only as artists but who for the first time can talk openly about their own doubts and anxieties about expressing themselves creatively. As noted in the preview published earlier by The Utah Review, the real-life Edith Rawnsley was an accomplished watercolorist. She also was believed to be the principal force for establishing the Keswick School of Industrial Arts, which she and her husband cofounded. The Rawnsleyes would become lifelong friends with Potter and they shared the mission of protecting the Lake District from being encroached upon for industrial development.
In the play, Rawnsley offers soothing encouragement to Potter, who makes it clear that her parents were incapable of uttering such words. Rawnsley tells the young woman, “In truth, it is only by acknowledging it that we can shine a light upon it.” A few moments later, she tells Potter, “I am not the one who needs to understand your fear. It is you who must claim it in order to see what it reveals.” When Potter asks her, “Why would I be afraid of the Lakes?” Edith says, “You’ve said you’ve only had this so-called freedom in one place—at Dalguise—your whole life. It’s only natural you would be scared that a change in location would result in a change of procedure. That life here would be the same as life at home.”
But, this nighttime conversation in the outdoors is not asymmetrical. When Potter discovers that Rawnsley has her own artistic talents as a painter, the young woman skillfully turns the sagacious words she has heard back toward Rawnsley: “A wise woman once told me, you must claim your fear in order to understand what it will reveal.”
Plan-B Theatre.
This small two-hander, adorned with one of the most artistically designed sets ever to grace a Plan-B Theatre production, delivers a profound message about the creative individual finding the courage not only to overcome socially dictated barriers and limitations of a sometimes toxic culture but also to transform their doubts, fears and anxieties into timeless and timely energy in whatever their artistic craft might be.
In an interview shortly after her 2019 book Staying Composed: Overcoming Anxiety and Self-Doubt Within a Creative Life was published , Dale Trumbore, a composer and writer based in Los Angeles, said, “I’ve realized that whenever I mention my own anxiety to another artist, they almost always describe their own relationship to anxiety in response. At the very least, we both feel less alone.” She added, “At best, our shared experience renders our anxiety less powerful over both of us. Once it’s been declawed in this way, anxiety is a little less threatening, and maybe even less likely to derail our creative work in the future. However uniquely terrifying you think your own creative fears may be, I guarantee that another artist has felt the same way.”
Knighton channels these sentiments with utmost valence in her script, which both actors bring to life on stage with outstanding results. Plan-B Theatre is a paragon for effective minimalistic productions but this production design as well as that for the company’s most recent KILO-WAT world premiere have taken on an enhanced level of aesthetic sensibilities.
The Beatrix Potter Defense Society set is as mesmerizing as the actor performances and the words being spoken. The set is like a Victorian miniature landscape painting, brought to life with a sound design that makes us feel like real lakeside observers and projections of illustrations and artworks by Potter and Rawnsley, including the seamless rising of the full moon. Kudos to the design team: Cluff (resident sound designer), Janice Chan (resident scenic designer), Daniel Charon (projections designer), Emma Belnap (lighting designer), Victoria Bird (costume designer), David Knoell (scenic builder and electrician), Arika Schockmel (props designer) and Taylor Wallace (stage manager).
The production continues through April 13 at the Studio Theatre in the Rose Wagner Center for Performing Arts. For tickets and more information, see the Plan-B Theatre website.