"Covenant"
Detroit Repertory Theatre
Detroit, Mich.
June 8, 2025
If you’re going to make a deal with the devil, make sure you’re ready to pay the price. And be forewarned, it may end up costing more than you’re willing to pay.
One of the characters in the Detroit Repertory Theatre’s production of York Walker’s Covenant learns this after it’s far too late. I won’t tell you which one, because I don’t want to ruin it, but it’s probably not who you think. The entire theater was gagged at the performance I attended, letting out a collective gasp as we sat paralyzed in our seats.
Covenant was inspired by the old wives’ tale about blues guitarist Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil in exchange for his musical gifts. In the play, we meet guitarist Johnny “Honeycomb” James, who has returned to small-town Alabama with uncanny musical ability after two years on the road. It’s rumored that he made a deal with the devil, and the townspeople don’t take kindly to him, except for his childhood friend Avery.
In fact, he’s come back to confess his love for Avery and take her on the road with him. Avery’s Christian nutjob of a mother (known simply as Mama) isn’t thrilled. Avery’s sister Violet isn’t into praying and getting the holy ghost like her mama and sister. And Violet’s best friend Ruthie is jealous that Honeycomb wants Avery instead of her.
But they are all carrying secrets as X’ydee Alexander, who plays Ruthie, foreshadows in her opening monologue. Nothing in this play is coincidental, so pay close attention. But even if you are watching closely, you won’t see the twist in the story coming. The ending left me stunned.
Alexander surprised me as Ruthie. She made her debut on the Detroit Rep stage just last season, and has been in three plays this season — Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Hysterical!, and Covenant. She gets better every time I see her, proving that she has range and the ability to find the nuance in her characters.
As soon as Jesse Boyd-Williams came onstage with that smooth southern twang in his voice, I recognized him from his role as Leland in Blues for an Alabama Sky at the Detroit Public Theatre last year. His stage presence is undeniable.
Kate McClaine gives us a masterclass on monologues as Mama. She’s effortless. There’s no rush in her delivery, as she lets the audience sit in the discomfort of the disturbing story she’s telling, the emotion building like a simmering pot on its way to boil.
By the time you get to the end, all hell has broken loose. I almost always cry at the theatre, even when a play isn’t particularly sad, because the magic of live performance is the actors’ ability to stir emotion from deep inside your spirit. They’re like magicians, casting a spell to create a vortex onstage that transports you into the lives of the characters, with all the heaviness of their emotions. Their fear becomes your fear. Their hopelessness becomes your despair, and so, too, does their love.
In this play the energy radiating off the actors is so thick that you can feel it. The final scene sent a chill down my spine at what had just unfolded before me.
After the initial shock at the ending wears off and you start to connect the dots, it all starts to add up. This is a play that deserves to be sold out every night. I’d see it again without thinking twice, and probably will. Even knowing how it ends, the performance was so captivating that it would be worth taking that journey with the actors again.
Leaving the theatre with an unexplainable feeling settling in my bones, I scrambled to call my mom.
“Holy shit,” I told her when she asked how the play was. But when she asked, “what was it about,” I stuttered.
“It was about… it was… uh, well… where do I even start?”
It’s about the secrets that burn a hole in our souls to keep. It’s about a godless existence colored by blind faith, and painful family dynamics built on fear and loss. But really, this play is about love, and the extremes we will go to have it. It’s also a reminder to be careful what you ask for.
You’ll understand, by the end.
Covenant runs through Sunday, July 6 at the Detroit Repertory Theatre.
This review was published in partnership with Detroit Metro Times.
