Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Simon Hedger, Ruth Alexander Rubin, John Edon, Maria Swisher, Jake Norton, Liam Tobin, Jennifer Burgess, Samantha Meisner.

When the downpour starts it is hard to ever believe that it will stop, the rain just becomes relentless, never-ending and destroys more and more lives. What happens though When The Rain Stops Falling?

As the audience takes their seats to watch the latest production to come to the Unity Theatre, it feels as though the play has already started, that somehow the actors have become so entrenched in their parts that what goes on around them doesn’t matter. That though is the genius of When The Rain Stops Falling by Said and Done; existence goes on all the time around us, it doesn’t just suddenly start when we meet that person for the first time, their lives have been in motion and sometimes not for the best.

Each member of the cast gave excellent performances, especially in some of the more upsetting and disturbing moments that the play contained. Chiefly the four women who showed the strength in their convictions, the hidden distaste they felt for the subject and how all events can be traced back through time as worlds, even what may be considered small links in a chain, collide and destroy the future. At a time when the subject of the play is on everybody’s lips, Said and Done gave the issue relative sensitivity without treading the fine line in to utter outrage and demonising one and all.

Admiration must go out Jennifer Burgess as the elder version of Gabrielle York whose life had been destroyed so many times but the final awful days was the real tear-jerker as the sight of her slightly losing the battle against her debilitating disease and the way she dealt with the memory of the father of her son was both intensely powerful and compelling.

Although a stark piece of work, the message and themes contained in When The Rain Stops Falling were very hard to ignore and whilst unsettling were dealt with commendably.

Ian D. Hall