The cast of York Walker’s Covenant at Berkeley Repertory Theatre includes (from left) Jeunée Simon as Mama, Alicia Pilgrim as her daughter Violet, Shian Tomlinson as neighbor Ruthie and Latoya Edwards as other daughter Avery. Photo by Kevin Berne
We may be barreling into the winter holidays, but Halloween is going to linger a little longer at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where York Walker’s Covenant is having its West Coast premiere.
This haunted 2023 play predates Ryan Coogler’s Sinners but feels like it could live just down the road near the legendary crossroads where the mythical, the spiritual and the supernatural have their midnight tangles. If you’re in the mood for a roiling Southern potboiler where things go bump in the night (and possibly deep in the soul), then the entertainingly juicy Covenant is for you.
In the intimate confines of Berkeley Rep’s Peet’s Theatre, set designer Teresa L. Williams overlords the stage with images of a local church: crosses, eaves and rough-hewn wood. The settings may be homes and porches and cemeteries, but it’s all under the roof of the church, and we are the witnessing congregation.
Latoya Edwards is Avery, a young woman eager to leave the confines of her small Georgia town. Photo by Kevin Berne
The first light we see is from a match struck by one of the four women who live at the center of the story.
It’s 1936 in a small Georgia town, and life is upended by the arrival of a wayward son: musician Johnny “Honeycomb” James (Israel Erron Ford), a stammering boy who departed years ago but now returns as something of a blues guitar star of the juke-joint circuit. Inspired by real-life blues legend Robert Johnson, Johnny is suspected of making a deal with the devil in exchange for his suspiciously advanced musical skills.
Johnny’s newfound charms hold sway over Avery (Latoya Edwards), a pious young woman who doesn’t take much persuasion to escape the little town and her domineering mother (Jeunée Simon), her indignant sister, Violet (Alicia Pilgrim), and neighbor/friend Ruthie (Shian Tomlinson).
But something happens to Avery, and when Johnny brings her back home, she’s part zombie, part kid in The Exorcist.
Three small-town women with dreams, ambitions…and secrets: Latoya Edwards (left) as Avery, Shian Tomlinson (center) as Ruthie and Alicia Pilgrim as Violet in Berkeley Rep’s West Coast premiere of Covenant. Photo by Kevin Berne
Mama immediately jumps into action, calling upon Jesus to purge her daughter of demons, which results in the play’s most delicious scene, with spinning crosses, doors opening on their own, ghostly apparitions at the window and all kinds of spooky goings-on (special effects are by Steve Cuiffo, lighting is by Alan Edwards).
Whether what’s happening is truly supernatural or a mental fugue brought on by past sins and secrets is, at least for a while, wonderfully mysterious. That thin line between faith and fantasy, horror and rapture, heaven and hell provides fertile ground in which to plant characters wrestling with the ideals of divinity and the realities of being human.
Director Taylor Reynolds whips the fervently focused cast into a frenzied melodrama of the past colliding violently with the present, forbidden love making a claim for recognition and people misunderstanding one another with fatal consequences. Each of the characters gets a moment to tell the audience a story, perhaps something they’ve heard, or maybe a way to share their deepest, darkest secrets. Either way, it’s an effective way to ground the escalating storytelling and to remind us that life spins on the stories we tell about and to ourselves.
Covenant wants us to deal with the devil, both real and imagined, but along the way, it will also deliver a sinfully enjoyable jolt of theater.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
York Walker’s Covenant continues through Dec. 13 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Peet’s Theater, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley. Running time: 100 minutes (no intermission). Tickets are $25-$137 (subject to change.) Visit berkeleyrep.org or call 510-647-2949.
