Richard Greenberg’s Three Days of Rain is a mystery that unfolds in reverse. In Act I it’s 1995 as three adult children of two iconic New York City architects ponder the current state of their lives and what motivated their parents three decades earlier. Their conclusions, based on memory and a recently found laconic journal, make sense, but when Act II pushes back to 1960, almost everything they have hypothesized proves to be wrong.
As is often the case, life was much more complicated. Peeling the onion is a fascinating, revealing process. It really rains in this play, too, as best as such a weather can be created in the close confines of the tiny Clifton Performance Theatre: At first it’s simply a detail of several intense days of life-changing action, but it becomes purifying and revelatory.
Greenberg’s fascinating narrative construct for this show requires three actors to play two intimately connected generations. In the show’s final moments, puzzle pieces snap into place and all six characters make more sense. It’s evident why the younger generation turned out as they did, even if they can’t fully parse the motivations and truth of past events.
Continues through May 23. $25. Clifton Performance Theatre, 404 Ludlow Ave., Clifton, cliftonperformancetheatre.com.
This article appears in May 13-19, 2015.
