” The Thing About Jelly Fish” is gorgeous to hear and to see, suffused with a gentle sensuality. There are images of jelly fish floating above the stage. A child swims through the ocean, suspended high above the scenery. gracefully doing somersaults in the water. Lights flash dramatically and effectively. Set designer Derek McClane, lighting designer Lap Chi Chu, sound designer and composer Dan Kluger,video designer Lucy Mackinnon, and movement director Yasmine Lee all offer work deserving of awards. No expense has been spared in bringing their expert vision to life.
Alas, the script adapted for the stage by Keith Bunin from the young adult novel by Ali Benjamin, is more pedestrian than thrilling. Suzy (Matilda Lawler) is a bright budding adolescent with a passion for science. The sort of child that is sometimes described as a “little professor,” Suzy has an encyclopedic knowledge of the natural world. Her habit of “info-dumping” has kept her mostly isolated from her peers, except for Franny (Kayla Teruel) who has been her best friend since kindergarten. The play opens with shocking news: away at the beach for summer vacation, Franny drowned in a swimming accident. It is a tragedy without explanation. Franny was an excellent swimmer. Her loss seems impossible, and Suzy is stunned and shattered.
In subsequent scenes, the history of their friendship is detailed, as well as Suzy’s growing denial that Franny could have simply drowned. Suzy becomes obsessed with finding another explanation for Franny’s death, something she can hang on to, something that makes sense. She convinces herself that Franny must have been stung to death by a jelly fish. She deals with her grief by becoming increasingly obsessed with this explanation, researching the possibility in great detail, and (in her imagination) consulting with expert scientists from around the world.
Alas, Suzy is no more successful in explaining the uenxplainable then the rest of us, and she must come to the painfully adult conclusion that “sometimes bad things happen” and thus try to make peace with fate.
There is nothing wrong with this message, but it is hardly news. The young-adult novel on which the play is based (and which I have not read) was a National Book Award Finalist, and no doubt excellent and deservedly well-loved. In a novel, the sense of being inside the protagonist’s head may have been remarkably artful, but such an effect is difficult to create with stage dialogue.
In terms of design, “The Thing About Jellyfish” succeeds remarkably in creating the illusion that we are inside the consciousness of Suzy, but, alas, the scenes between the actors never achieve the necessary emotional depth. All of the performers are capable professionals, and Christiana Clark is remarkable in her creation of multiple characters, but the scenes are episodic and predictable with little surprise or emotional weight. They convey the story, but not the life.
In the end, I was left feeling that an enormous amount of dollars had been invested in providing a magnificent staging of a script that was not yet entirely stageworthy, and the result, though quite beautiful, was not very satisfying.
Fans of the novel will probably be pleased to see the book come to such a remarkable visual life, but the rest of us may be left unmoved.
‘The Thing About Jellyfish’ plays at Berkely Rep through March 9, 2025. For further information click here.
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Rating: *** (For an explanation of TheatreStorm’s rating system, click here.)
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“The Thing About Jellyfish” produced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre in association with Madison Wells Live and Emerald Drive. Based on the novel by Ali Benjamin. Adapted for the stage by Keith Bunin. Director: Tyne Rafaeli. Movement Director: Yasmine Lee. Set Design: Derek McClane. Costume Design: Linda Cho. Lighting Design: Lap Chi Chu. Sound Design & Original Music: Dan Kluger. Video Design: Lucy Mackinnon. Dialect Coach: Jessica Berman.
Cast:
Matilda Lawler: Suzy. Stephanie Janssen: Meg. Kayla Teruel: Franny. Andy Grotelueschen: Dan. Christiana Clark: Franny’s Mom, Mrs. Turton, Dr. Legler, and Everyone Else. Antonio Watson: Justin. Lexi Perkel: Aubrey. Robert Stanton: Jamie. Jasper Bermudez: Dylan.
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