Beirut - Review by Systems Reviews

This Athena Theatre production of Alan Bowne's play, Beirut, powerfully depicts an apocalyptic era ruled by fear and paranoia. It details a time when those who contract an unnamed, sexually transmitted disease are forced into ghetto-like military-enforced confinement to live out their days. It is when the government advocates fear over love, and brutality over compassion. It is difficult to tell those who have hope from the hopeless. The play opens by introducing Torch (Damien Midkiff), a young man forced into a solitary existence by his testing "positive" for this aids-like disease. Sneaking through security to visit him is former girlfriend, Blue (Veronique Ory). As the action unfolds each character expresses a different form of hope -- Torch's version is to hope for health and protection from disease for Blue. Blue's hope is that her love and attraction and the connection it would bring would provide meaning to a maddened world. Yet, as Torch persists in defeating the possible connection with Blue, he deepens her own hopelessness in living. And as Blue persists, her wish to make love takes the one power away from Torch he feels he has left. But their physical attraction is undeniable and raises the possibility that connection and love are ultimately deeper than the forces that seek to destroy us. Midkiff plays torch with the intensity of a caged animal who hasn't yet completely surrendered to death or fear. Ory brings out the necessary sexual tension and energy to pull Torch towards connection. Together the actors create an energy that makes it easy for the audience to be captivated and wondering just what will happen next. The pace of the production never lags, even in quieter moments, largely due to the performances which hold us transfixed to the very end. And ultimately, this production satisfies on several levels. Not only is this an entertaining production -- it also raises more questions than it answers and -- as in all worthwhile theatre, it makes us think.

by Systems Reviews
(reviewer: Jude James)