Set in Rwanda on the eve of the genocide, this play asks questions about what is true and what is a lie and how can you tell the difference. Does knowing someone intimately for several years years ago really mean that you know them now? David Storch as Jack Exley thinks he knows his friend and he is sure he knows the answers to all the hard questions about right and wrong. But reality intervenes and he finds out that America is not Africa and things are not as obvious as he wants them to be.
His wife Linda White-Keeler, played by Mariah Inger thinks she too is seeing the truth only to have a rude awakening when reality intrudes.
The other big question asked by the play is whether your principles are more important than your family? Do you save your family or friend when forced to choose?
A truly excellent cast with Hardy Linehan as the local CIA agent and Nigel Shawn Williams as the doctor friend and Sterlin Jarvis as Samuel Mizinga.
Play was written by J.T.Rogers and produced by Studio 180 Theatre, who also produced Stuff Happens.
I wonder why Rwanda has generated so much artistic response when other recent genocides have slipped through our consciousness with a shrug and a sigh. Perhaps because the UN was there and because it was better documented at the time?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this was a good exploration of the Rwanda situation and Exley's pompous ignorance is a good representation of how we in the west all saw things.
Really good production with excellent acting presenting a slippery situation.
More from Studio 180 next season.