←Recommendations of Drop of Kindness

A terrific story of sisterhood that is so richly layered, complex and real in who they are and their ability to connect underneath all of it. Beautifully done.

This play's dystopian dysfunction grabbed my attention from the start. The world is populated with quirks designed to unsettle, and the characters are mysterious but very human. Hilder weaves themes of sibling love, sibling rivalry, guru-ism, cult-ism, and terrorism, into one big creepy quilt of a play, and I enjoyed every stitch.

Hilder's play starts out quietly: two very different sisters meet for the first time in a long time in a strange, vaguely familiar world of fences, armed guards and weapons deliveries. Lanna and Gwennie are drawn so clearly I knew them; Lanna, the conservative, reclusive workaholic, is particularly endearing - her reticence, longing, dismay, fear of losing control I could sense in the writing. What happens as a handsome stranger enters their lives and seduces both sisters to his side, occurs inexorably, savagely, the action becomes louder, louder, erupts, finally everything makes sense. Very vivid, skilled, heart full storytelling.

So many dramas packed into one tight, suspenseful play. A prodigal sister returns, conflict follows, but in a way that feels entirely specific and fresh. David Hilder reveals his ominous "sideways version of next year" to us on a strictly need-to-know basis, doling out the hints and explanations in doses just large enough to serve the tense story. I can't tell if this is a big Brave New World nightmare packed into a small family drama, or a moving family drama disguised as a dystopian-future thriller. It's probably both, and it's all excellent.

This was the first David Hilder play I read, and it has all the hallmarks I've come to know from his writing: strong female characters, a wicked sense of humor with impeccable comic timing, emotional resonance, and a sense of something being slightly "off". It is dystopian, yet familiar, which adds to the sense of dread and eeriness that has a very satisfying payoff in the end.