Playmakers Repertory Company squeezes exploding emotion and brutal life experiences into a compact production of “I Have Before Me a Remarkable Document Given to Me By a Young Lady From Rwanda.”
A strong Rwandan refugee and blundering British writer’s bleak and polar opposite worlds clash and ultimately are uplifted by friendship and a mutual passion for writing.
In this love story without kissing, actors Joy Jones and Garth Petal portray the characters of Juliette and Simon with palpable chemistry.
It’s an old story of writer’s block: Simon has misplaced his narrative gift and cannot muster a single line of poetry. Instead, he helps Juliette with her own autobiographical novel.
Both characters are portrayed skillfully. Their awkward first interactions, full of forced laughs, are spine-tingling to watch.
Through their growing relationship, the actors build empathy for a horrific event: the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
THEATER REVIEW
...a young lady from rwanda
Playmakers Repertory Company
Wednesday
Verdict: 4 of 5 stars
The production’s dialogue is divided between frazzled conversations lacking common ground and inner monologues. Whether bittersweet or angry, the monologues are tear-jerking.
In as little as 30 seconds, an actor might cry, sigh in flirtatious sentiment, or scream at a clinging past, and the audience follows suit.
Actress Jones has two show-stopping spectacles. While she describes her father’s limbs being hacked by a machete, a direct spotlight highlights Jones’ red-eyed face and body frantically contorting with the painful recollection. Jones also lights candles and tells stories about each of her murdered relatives, only to blow the flames out.
Driving and adding depth to the production are four on-stage panels that continuously reflect projected images that symbolize the events of the play.
The projected pictures range from delicate lilacs to fields of bullet-ravaged bodies as characters reminisce.
The play’s ending, like the rest of it, leaves the audience with a mixture of feelings, as Juliette gives a speech of resignation on a darkened stage.
Juliette and Simon are happy, but Rwanda’s bloodstained “1,000 hills” have not been washed.
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