'Mourning Sunset' Rises Over the Horizon - Review
Olio Theatre Works' World Premiere of 'Mourning Sunset' Reunites a Family in the Shadow of Tragedy.
I was unfamiliar with Olio Theatre Works before seeing the world premiere of “Mourning Sunset.” After last night, I will not be sleeping on them again.
Performed at Irvine United Congregational Church, “Mourning Sunset,” follows James Wright (Dylan Vessel) as he faces the impending loss of his wife Katherine (Savannah Moffat) to ovarian cancer. His estranged mother Amanda (Terra Taylor Knudson) suddenly arrives to “help” as James is rebuilding his relationship with his father Doug (John Sturgeon), who was absent for much of his childhood. Trapped together while agonizing over doomsday clock countdown, the family has nowhere left to hide. Unhealed wounds have salt poured in them as decades-old poor decision making are brought to light. Everyone must stare death in the face as they come to terms with that reconciliation could be impossible.
Casting two real-life couples gives this production a genuine reality that hits hard. Moffat makes Katherine’s suffering almost unbearable to watch. Her physical deterioration and vocal strain are so real that a woman seated a row over could be heard (not-so-quietly) whispering, “It’s so real. I’m tearing up.”
Vessel’s James watches the woman he loves in real life deteriorate in front of him while she refuses medication, carries the terrifying weight of imagining what that loss would actually feel like. God willing, he and Moffat will never have to live that reality as none of the emotions are manufactured.
Knudson and Sturgeon bring a different kind of truth to Amanda and Doug. Their arguments cut deep because love still sits underneath the anger. Knudson’s nervous movements and tightly wound delivery reveal a woman barely holding herself together, hiding enough skeletons in her closet to fill a graveyard. Sturgeon meets her with equal amounts of resentment and affection. Their dynamic is a broken marriage caught between, “I still have love for you, but dammit I’m angry with you.”
If you have lost someone, survived a brutal breakup or watched a relationship you thought was permanent disappear, you will recognize the reality within the staging. The script layers its reveals carefully, planting its foreshadowing and trusts the audience to keep up.
Knudson, who also wrote the play, makes sure every word delivered is intentional. Directed by Carl DaSilva, the production delivers dialogue that is smart, witty, sharp and at times, biting. Most importantly, the characters actually react. They don’t stop to manufacture the perfect response or sanitize their emotions. They speak, interrupt, hurt and defend themselves like real people.
Jill Prout steps off stage and heads to the sound booth for this production that was sound designed by Caleb Leal. Violet Hesslein’s costumes look straight out of the actors’ closets, capturing the urgency of every final moment.
What I would be interested in seeing is “Mourning Sunset,” being set in the mid-to-late 1970s. Shift the setting back 50 years, with a couple of line adjustments and this will be a technical knockout as the story already carries a timeless quality.
I often say that when a show doesn’t work, the actors played the notes but didn’t make music; with these four performers and this beautifully crafted script, they turned “Mourning Sunset,” into chamber music: intimate, precise, painful and beautiful.
Olio Theatre Works rang the bell and audiences will answer the call.
Olio Theatre Works’ “Mourning Sunset,” runs from now through August 15, 2026, at Irvine United Congregational Church.
To purchase tickets for “Mourning Sunset,” visit: http://www.oliotheatreworks.org/coming-up.html.
Irvine United Congregational Church is located at:
4915 Alton Pkwy
Irvine, CA 92604
4.25 out of 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️¼