Olivier Kemeid’s play is loosely based on Virgil’s epic about the hero Aeneas’s search for a new home after the Trojan War — a quest that led to the founding of Rome and the extension of Western civilization. The through-line of Kemeid’s text is the story of a contemporary Aeneas (Gareth Potter), forced to leave his unnamed home city when a violent attack leaves it in ruins. The text moves back and forth between poetic meta-narration of the journey and snapshots of the travellers’ encounters with contemporary developed-world realities. Keira Loughran’s production does not fully rise to the tonal and structural challenges of this jagged dramaturgy. The dark environment is pierced through with beams of light (designed by Itai Erdal) isolating monologues and embodied exchanges.

Source: thestar August 21, 2016 19:43 UTC