A Singing Lesson and a Reckoning in The Swallow, presented by Open Space Arts

THE SWALLOW, by Spain’s Guillem Clua, is an intimate production. Originally titled LA GOLONDRINA, it premiered in London in 2018. In this two-character 90-minute play, a voice lesson becomes a profound experience for the music teacher, Emily (Michelle McKenzie-Voigt), and her adult student, Ray (Jim Nally). As they work together on a song, what initially seems like a simple musical exchange becomes something more personal, more complicated, and more revealing.

The space at Open Space Arts is perfect for exactly this kind of production: The front door opens into the tiny, black box space. Director Laine Rogers and set designer Rick Paul use the space brilliantly. You are not so much watching theater as sitting in someone’s living room, while the people in it live their lives, oblivious to the twenty-five people watching them.

The story opens with a brusque music teacher and her well intentioned, if underexperienced, new student. Both Mckenzie-Voigt and Nally come off as people you wouldn’t mind spending time with. Michelle McKenzie-Voigt clearly has experience with formal singing, and Jim Nally does a particularly good job of not quite getting the singing right, which provides some early levity, and one of the more powerful moments near the end of the play.

Over the course of the evening, it is revealed that Ray and Emily have roles in each other’s lives that Emily was not aware of. As she grapples with the recent loss of her son Danny, Ray appears to be leading her somewhere. He is sympathetic, but with a purpose other than simple empathy. Ray wants something from Emily, and at least at first, Emily appears only to want solitude. Eventually, the truth is revealed: Emily’s son was murdered by a terrorist, in a massacre that closely resembles the one at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016. The rest of the connections are key to the unraveling of their stories, so I’ll keep them close.  

The intimate setting and sparse cast give the playwright ample time to explore the ins and outs of the unique sort of grief that is derived from violent, unexpected loss. It also provides each character a chance to explore how the motives of someone like the murderer might affect their own understanding of what happened, and time for each character to feel like a real, lived in person, with a life off the stage.

This particular, two-person structure is designed for the kind of vulnerable, naked examination of identity and loss THE SWALLOW Grapples with. Guillem Clua is adept at allowing the complexities in human relationships to unfurl in real time, through thoughtful monologues and sharp dialogue. The cast is largely up to the task, passing the baton back and forth for confessions, accusations and appeals. The space also lends itself to an almost hushed, private event. It’s easy to forget you’re not actually eavesdropping. That said, the cast at times seemed to be more used to a larger house, projecting for the back row so to speak, when in reality the entire space is the front row. A space as intimate as this calls for an adjustment of technique, an embrace of the closeness, much more like a film camera than a traditional stage, that would allow for whispers, for small changes in expression, for wordless communication. Both actors elicit a genuine response from the audience, however – their heartfelt performances serve as a powerful reminder that grief is myriad, and that in the end, it is the human connection through empathy that saves us all.

Somewhat Recommended

Reviewed by Alina C. Hevia

THE SWALLOW will be playing at Open Space Arts, 1411 W. Wilson Ave., September 11–27, 2026 Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM, Sundays at 3:00 PM

Tickets $30.00 general admission, $25.00 students and seniors. On sale now at

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.