[1] Itinerant, eccentric wanderer, Gabriel York, is waiting for a visit from his adult English son, Andrew, after years of estrangement.
In the same flat in 1988, Gabriel Law's relationship is strained due to his mother Elizabeth's refusal to shed light on his father's mysterious disappearance when he was only seven.
[1] Keen to retrace his father's footsteps and piece together his family's past, Gabriel Law journeys to Australia where he meets a vulnerable young roadhouse waitress, Gabrielle York.
[4] The full list of characters is: The original cast of the 2008 and 2009 production consisted of Paul Blackwell, Michaela Cantwell, Carmel Johnson, Kris McQuade, Yalin Ozucelik, Anna Lise Phillips, Neil Pigot and musician and composer Quentin Grant, who was a collaborator in the creative process and performed the piano music live.
[1] A critic from Time Magazine described the play as featuring "the most complicated time-shifting dramatic structure I've seen in years" due to the deliberately disorienting shifts in timeframe and characters from different periods often overlapping on stage.
[9] Described as a "poetic pretzel of a play", the drama has drawn comparisons to another structurally complex piece, Wajdi Mouawad's Incendies (also known as Scorched in English translation).
[4] When the Rain Stops Falling explores themes relating to self-identity, abandonment, forgiveness and love and how inherited legacies shape our future in seen and unseen ways.
[7] Climate change and how it has reshaped the world is a major theme, with the textured soundscape and lighting design conveying both an ominous atmosphere and an unceasing tropical rainstorm in Alice Springs in 2039.
[15] The play was commissioned and originally produced by Brink Productions in Adelaide, South Australia, developed in collaboration with contemporary artist and designer, Hossein Valamanesh.
[5] The Australian newspaper described it as "a spell binding saga"[5][better source needed] while the Sydney Morning Herald stated it was a "theatre of rare intimacy and resonance.
"[20] The Daily Telegraph commented that it was "Visually arresting, cleverly written and populated with interesting, gritty characters…a truly great addition to modern Australian theatre..."[5][better source needed] Time Magazine described it as "the best play of 2010".
[21] Meanwhile, a Variety Magazine reviewer noted that the play "is likely to be a divisive work" due to its confusing narrative elements but acclaimed its "suspenseful and peculiar language, which is earthy and naturalistic but also intensely lyrical".