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Death & The Maiden Studio 2 Holden Street Theatres Until Sat 13 March 'Death & The Maiden' by Ariel Dorfman revolves around a what-if - what would happen if you were a victim of torture by a disposed fascist regime and your husband, who is to work on a government-sponsored truth commission, unwittingly invites your torturer over for a glass of cognac? Dorfman blurs the distinctions between such things as responsibility and culpability, vengeance and justice, redemption and damnation, by pricking our defensive tendency to believe that we are not - and could never be - like one or all of his three characters. The play, or perhaps this production, falls short of this ambition by not fully investigating the possibilities of the author's premise and by scurrying across some opportunities for dramatic enhancement. Too much of Dorfman's dialogue is bland as he did not set the play in location or time in his attempt to generalise the impact of terror by governments. The Academy at Scotch produced this complex melodrama with a trio of young actors-in-training. It's a difficult short play to perform - Ptiika Owen-Shaw had to find relief from presenting an hysterical and acutely depressed shrew for most of the play while Chas Fisher and Benji Groenewegen as the husband and guest needed to demonstrate the inner conflict of righteousness and expediency. I suspect that co-directors Chas Fisher and Andrew Jefferis did not challenge their actors to peak performance. Characterisations were weak and the required psychological tension and manipulation were as poorly articulated as the rushed deliveries. Most of the anxiety involving a firearm was lost in careless attitudes in handling and being threatened with the weapon. On the bright side, designer Kate Marcelle Jefferis provided a convincing lighting plot. There is a lot more that could be wrung from this play and rehearsal time might have been better spent on acting instead of tango dancing to Schubert. |
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