Back of the Throat
Yussef El Guindi's drama draws an invisible line down centerstage. Khaled went to the Eiffel Tower Club. People spotted him with Asfoor, who committed a terrorist act. Two government agents, carte blanche xenophobes eager to build volcanoes from anthills, question, then interrogate Khaled. Was he involved, or suffering guilt by propinquity? Much of the play has a haunting, it-couldn't-happen-here quality. But it also has an unreal level of comedy (among other things, Bartlett and Carl, the agents, are a clown act). Thanks to Sara Beth Morgan's smart direction, neither Walter Ritter (Bartlett) nor Tom Hall (Carl) overplays the shtick, but it detracts from their otherwise strong, menacing work. Brian Abraham's Khaled treads the invisible line throughout ("20 degrees of separation," he shouts, "makes everyone a suspect"). Rhys Greene does a fine cameo as Asfoor's slowly seething ghost, and DeNae Steele plays several women, one of whom does a pole dance to Neil Diamond's "Coming to America." Back of the Throat runs in repertory with Elliot, a Soldier's Fugue.
Worth a try.
When
Ongoing until Saturday, April 10, 2010
Hours
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 8pm |