Rumbleskin (Dirty Pennies Theatre Project), at fortyfivedownstairs - 90 minutes, with no interval

It is bold, esoteric and highly creative.

Set in isolated territory, it is Wild West storytelling at its finest.

It is tale within a tale of a feeling that overtakes one that can’t be readily explained, but needs to be acted upon.

Let me try to give you some context.

A trucker in the middle of nowhere in snowbound country picks up a belligerent, shivering teenager – a runaway.

Photos by Kimberley Summer

The teen is reluctant to give her back story or even where she is headed.

When pressed, she says she is looking for the lake she remembers from her childhood, from where wild geese take flight.

The teen is also hiding a secret that will be revealed late in the piece.

The trucker tells the teen a tale, which has a series of sidebars, involving a formidable rodeo rider who doesn’t feel pain in the convention way.

This rodeo rider who takes all before him is driven to do what he does.

He hooks up with an enthusiastic hitchhiker, who follows him around the circuit until she determines she wants some stability.

The rodeo rider continues to move around, his body all but broken, landing in a town named Leadtooth, where there is an untamed horse displaying unusual behaviour.

The rancher on the property to which the rodeo rider is drawn wants him to ride that horse, decidedly risky though that might be.

Meanwhile, there is an isolated town where a preacher bemoans the fact that their crops continue to fail.

The preacher is suspicious of the arrival of a stranger looking for food, in return for which they maintain they can solve the town’s crop crisis, which they do.

Shadowing the stranger is the preacher’s daughter, who is intrigued by the stranger’s unusual behaviour.

In that regard, the stranger and the horse in the allied tale have something in common.

It is afflicting more than the two of them. Others are and will be drawn in too.

It is a disquieting feeling, a manifestation known as the Rumbleskin.

But just what is the Rumbleskin and who does (and can) it afflict?

With the help of dramaturg Mark Pritchard, Ames May Nunn has written an intriguing Western folktale about transformation.

It is about risk taking and letting go to allow one’s true self to out, regardless of the consequences.

It is lyrical … poetic, involving narrative and song in search of meaning.

It is a world in which pain and pleasure exist alongside one another.

Rumbleskin is raw, vigorous and, at times, tender.

Danger is a constant, the fear of being found out and preyed upon.

My references are deliberately vague because they are intended to draw you in without giving the game away.

The play with music has been brilliantly conceived and executed by director Alonso Pineda.

The five actors, all of whom fill multiple roles, do a superb job, each as potent as the next, producing full-hearted performances that breathe life into the conceit.

Cassidy Dunn plays the runaway, the rancher and the townsfolk in Leadtooth.

Luke Wiltshire assumes the role of the rodeo rider Ditch and the preacher.

Michelle Pirera is the recalcitrant horse Rodeo Ruth and a police officer.

Ziggy Resnick is cast as enthusiastic hitchhiker Celia and the preacher’s daughter.

Sunada Sachatrakul is the trucker, the stranger and a cat-like creature named Young Scratch.

Each switch personas effortless and convincingly. They are dynamic and uncompromising.

They are ably supported by composer Jacob Diamond strumming ballads on his guitar.

Set and costume designer Sam Diamond has created four attractive, patchwork quilt covered mounds (reflective of the Rumbleskin).

It is on and around these that the action takes place.

They are quite utilitarian. For instance, one doubles as the trucker’s vehicle.

The “cowboy” costuming immediately transports us to a sense of place.

Lighting design by Giovanna Yate Gonzalez serves to focus our attention as the emotionally intertwined stories unfold.

Rumbleskin resonates strongly. It is artistic and arresting, giving voice to the hidden … to the repressed.

It is playing at fortyfivedownstairs until 27^th July, 2025.