Eastern Front Theatre & HomeFirst Productions presents REFUGE
Refuge
By
Mary Vingoe
Presented by Eastern Front Theatre & HomeFirst Productions
Reviewed
by Ekaterina Sushko
(October
2nd performance)
Intense silence. Lights off.
The audience holds their breath foretasting the action.
The setting is simple: Stairs, a small dais on the right and…nothing
else so far. Six actors are standing motionless, upstairs, in different postures.
Then the play starts leading spectators through the story as
if it set in a dark park: Floodlights illuminate different parts of the stage
at different moments to reveal separate parts of the narrative. Our goal is to
find a connection between these fragments.
As the play goes on, tracing connection becomes more and
more interesting. “What happened? What happened?”… This question keeps emerging
in everyone’s head.
The story uncovers important immigration issues and
difficulties unknown to most Canadians. The accents, the dress and the manners
of the characters are very natural: The diverse background of the actors make
the play especially real.
The denouement is totally unexpected and finally all of the
pieces tie together—you finally realize what happened. The ending is powerful and
shows how indifferent we sometimes are and how little attention we pay to
people who live so close to us.
This is definitely one of those plays that give you
something to think about. It raises important issues while offering funny
moments in between. Six actors and a simple setting create a very powerful
emotion, evoke sympathy and make the audience think what life is like for an
immigrant coping with difficult circumstances.
Refuge
Until
October 6th, 2013
Neptune
Studio Theatre
