Strap Yourself in for Bag&Baggage’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by Tina Arth

Janelle Rae and Jayna Sweet

I mean it – Bag&Baggage’s production of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is a wild ride – 70

minutes of some of the most intense emotional and physical theater I’ve ever experienced.

“Enjoyable” may not be the right word to describe it – perhaps try “riveting” and

“heartbreaking” and ”authentic” and “intimate” and “raw,” but ultimately two exquisite

performances that kept me vibrating for hours after the stage went dark. In 1984, playwright

John Patrick Shanley (better known for Moonstruck, Doubt: A Parable, and other later work)

emerged as a playwright of note when he brought Danny to New York and London stages.

Director T.S. McCormick honors Shanley’s original vision with laser-like focus, and his actors are

simply brilliant.

The play brings Danny and Roberta, two severely damaged, sometimes explosive, and

psychologically fragile people, together in a deserted bar where they literally and figuratively

crash against each other as they reach out for a human connection. Each is tortured by a secret

– a “bad thing” that they have done, and that they believe is so unforgiveable that they do not

deserve love. As they work through Danny’s nearly uncontrollable rage and Roberta’s crippling

shame, they manage for at least one night to find comfort, peace, acceptance, and a touching

version of love in each other’s arms.

The on-stage chemistry between Janelle Rae (“Danny”) and Jayna Sweet (“Roberta”) is electric -

props not only to the actors and director, but to intimacy choreographer Amanda Vander Hyde

for helping to make this unlikely coupling believable. Rae is violently jacked up for most of the

play, with open wounds on their face and hands serving as mutely powerful testimony to

Danny’s dangerous physical and mental state. Sweet’s character initially seems unreasonably

calm – Danny’s fury is met with a fearless combination of seductiveness and sauciness that

makes sense only when her despair leaks though and we learn that she’s not afraid because, in

her despair, she really doesn’t believe that her life has any value. Rae and Sweet each commit

100% to their characters and lend their transformation a gripping authenticity.

Blanca Forzán’s scenic design is perfectly proportioned to the action - two simple but detailed

sets on a rotating platform to create a seamless transition from bar to Roberta’s small room.

Gabe Costales’ lighting design – in particular, the use of artificial light in place of open sky –

embraces the themes and enhances the moodily surreal atmosphere. A final note – Director

McCormick’s choice to set the action at Christmas time is inspired. While nothing in the script

implies a holiday setting , the small touches highlight the vast divide between conventional

familial warmth and the desperate loneliness of so many trauma victims. Danny is a show that

will stay with its audience for a long, long time.

Content warning: due to mature language and themes of sexual violence, the show is not

appropriate for children, and could be triggering to some survivors.

Bag&Baggage’s Danny and the Deep Blue Sea is playing at The Vault, 350 E. Main Street,

Hillsboro, through December 18 th , with 7:30 p.m. performances Thursday, Friday, and Saturday

and 2:00 p.m. Sunday matinees. There will be a meet and greet with B&B’s new artistic

director, Nik Whitcomb, following the December 16 th performance.