Review: THE BIRDS at Albion Theatre is a Foreboding Psychological Thriller

Diane, Nat, and Julia are seeking refuge and safety in a small cabin near the New England shore. High tide brings danger. Flocks of murderous birds come and go with the tide. The survivors assume they are the only three people who are still alive.

Conor McPherson’s theatrical adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s short story The Birds opens this weekend at Albion Theatre. McPherson’s psychological thriller is set inside the small home where people are hiding from an imminent and ongoing threat.

Du Maurier’s story is also the inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 movie The Birds. While both the movie and the play are adapted from the same material, the narratives are vastly different.

Director Robert Ashton, Production Director and Scenic Designer Rob Lippert, Sound and Projections Designer Justin Been, and Lighting Designer Kara Grimm-Denholm immerse the audience into a world of danger, tension, fear, survival, and isolation. Using nearly 700 sound, lighting, and projections cues Lippert and his production team have built a horrifying realism. When the flocks return the actors and audience are surrounded by the sounds and shadows of menacing fowl.

Lippert’s elaborate production design is remarkable technical theater. It is unlike anything seen recently on a St. Louis stage. It takes a gargantuan effort to manage his many cues, and stage manger Rachel Klinck does not miss a beat.

Ashton creates an ominous mood. He builds tension with hauntingly atmospheric direction and pulls layered performances from his actors whose characters are strangers in desperate survival mode.

McPherson’s play has 16 short scenes packed into 90-minutes of run time. Ashton effectively uses his actors to reset scenes quickly. They manage dozens of props that have carefully selected by props designer Kathleen Dwyer.

Jeff Kargus (Nat), Livy Potthoff (Julia), and Susan Wylie (Diane) traverse a spectrum of emotions from fear to despair. They dread their likely outcome and portray feelings of helplessness with their food rations running out. All three are on the edge of losing control but they give measured versus histrionic performances.

Joseph Garner (Tierney) gives an unhinged portrayal as a gun-toting mad farmer who lives in a home across the lake from the three refugees. Garner frantically chews scenery in his single scene to convey the sheer panic any remaining survivors could be experiencing. He gives a memorable and frenzied performance with his 6-minutes of stage time.

McPherson’s adaptation of The Birds is more psychological than graphic. It pits desperate people against one another in a desperate time.

Ashton, Lippert, and the entire team are telling an eerie, disquieting, and foreboding tale. It is a slow-burning story that simmers to an unnerving conclusion.

The Birds continues at Albion Theatre through November 1, 2026. Visit albiontheatrestl.org for tickets and more information.

(Editorial note: This production was reviewed at an invited dress rehearsal)

Reader Reviews

To post a comment, you must register and login.