THE DIVINERS
This play revolves around a sort of idiot savant. At 14, Buddy Layman can barely tie his shoes and only speaks about himself in the third person: “He can’t help it if he’s daffy.” Yet Buddy has a strange talent for “feeling” water–seemingly the result of surviving the drowning accident that killed his mother ten years earlier. He’s delighted to help farmers find underground water sources and to warn them when heavy rains are coming, but terrified to touch the stuff. Just the thought of taking a bath sends him into a panic.
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Once we’ve met the dirt-covered but sweet Buddy and a sampling of the population of Zion, Indiana–including the friendly farmer Basil, who tends to his neighbors’ doctoring needs, and Buddy’s sister Jennie Mae, the calming influence in his life–we’re ready to meet “the stranger.” Enter C.C. Showers, the ex-preacher running away from his past, whose name conjures up images of rainmaking con men. We suspect he has something to hide, but the truly pleasant surprise is that he’s an ordinary, good-hearted man who simply got tired of hearing himself talk.
Leonard pokes fun without assuming superiority, depicts tragedy without laying blame. All that his play lacks is Steinbeck’s grittiness. The townspeople seem soft, as if they weren’t worried about the Depression or crops ruined by the whim of nature. It’s hard to believe any farmer could be so nonchalant about the economy as Basil when he says, “Banks can’t hurt anything. They’re all folded.” Cynicism may not be in Leonard’s range, but he’s very good at expressing optimism. Again and again Basil utters diamonds of hope. He’s able to make us see the worst tragedy as a time to begin again, “Like a slate wiped clean. Or a fever washed away.”
Jamie Denton is equally strong in the lead role of C.C. Showers, playing the former preacher with a mix of sensitivity and rascality reminiscent of Jimmy Stewart. But Leonard’s script and Hannon’s direction are such that actors in lesser roles are often equally memorable. Shari Friederich as Darlene stands out for her mixed-up interpretation of the Garden of Eden, a place in Europe where everyone walks around naked. Even Michael Thibeault–not the play’s strongest actor–has an excellent moment as Dewey kicking up the dust as he asks Darlene out. Such moments are a tribute to Leonard’s attention to minor characters and, apparently, the director’s close work with her actors.
