Chanell Bell, right, and Al’Jaleel McGhee star in Northlight Theatre’s production of “Fireflies” by Donja R. Love.
Behind every great man stands a great woman, or so the saying goes. “Fireflies,” currently running at Northlight Theatre, is about one of them.
Donja R. Love’s two-hander has potential. His language is bracing and his emphasis on the female member of the power couple around which the play revolves is refreshing. Director Mikael Burke has a commanding pair of actors in Chanell Bell and Al’Jaleel McGhee, who deliver beautifully textured performances as flawed people of faith.
That said, “Fireflies” relies too often on plot contrivances and heavy-handed symbolism. And while its attempt to address racism, violence, infidelity, homosexuality, abortion and other issues over the course of its 100, intermission-less minutes is admirable, it’s all a bit overwhelming for a play that, at its core, is a portrait of a marriage.
Set in 1963, the play centers on civil rights leaders Rev. Charles Emmanuel Grace (McGhee) and his wife Olivia (Bell), whose public image suggests an ideal couple: charismatic, compassionate, devoted to the cause. But the cracks in this relationship are evident the moment the lights come up on set designer Scott Penner’s tidy kitchen — a narrow, elevated space suggesting the isolation underscoring this relationship. Olivia sits at her kitchen table, smoking and wearing a pensive expression that hints at hostility.
Hearing her husband approach, she puts out her cigarette, stashes the ashtray and hides a package that had been sitting on the table. Charles — a spellbinding orator whose speeches Olivia writes — has returned from consoling the parents of Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise McNair, the four Black girls killed in the September 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
Olivia, who is pregnant, is plagued by visions of exploding bombs and fiery skies that make her unwilling to bring a child into a world where so many Black children fall victim to racial violence. We also learn Charles has been unfaithful, his infidelity confirmed by recordings Olivia received courtesy of the FBI. Other secrets are revealed, accompanied by expressions of regret and protestations of love.
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McGhee is magnetic as a man whose heart is as noble as his flesh is weak. It’s a highly charged performance matched by Bell, whose tormented Olivia is galvanizing. One of Bell’s most compelling moments comes late in the play when — in a statement that is part accusation and part self-condemnation — Olivia expresses her long-simmering anger at being sidelined.
“I don’t even speak for myself,” she says. “My words come out of your mouth. Your words are mine and I wasted them all on you.”
“Fireflies” concludes with a woman finding her voice. Here’s hoping those women still standing behind men do the same.
