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| Ian Lassiter, Sohina Sidhu, and Hend Ayoub Photo by Joan Marcus |
Yes, it’s three – three – three plays in one! Whether the
three actually cohere remains to be seen, but “Kiss,” currently on the stage at
Yale Repertory Theatre, does present some surprises and you certainly leave the
theater with much to talk about. Written
by Guillermo Calderon and directed by Evan Yionoulis, this exercise in creative
introspection has an intriguing premise – to wit, what if the actors and
director misinterpret the playwright’s intentions? In other words, what if they
get it wrong? How do you make amends?
It’s difficult to write about this play and not stumble into
spoiler-land. In any event, the first third of the play deals with two couples
living in Damascus (they could essentially be in any metropolitan area) who
have love issues. There’s Hadeel (Sohina Sidhu), a rather confused (and
emotionally malleable) young woman who professes heartfelt love for two suitors,
Ahmed (Ian Lassiter) and Yousif (James Cusati-Moyer), and then there’s Bana
(Hend Ayoub), an actress on a popular Syrian soap opera who is romantically
involved with Yousif. It is, in essence, the stuff of soap operas (and it’s
meant to be), with revelations and emotional upheavals flying about and a lot
of “Who loves whom” and “How could you…?” making up much of the dialogue. It’s
all pretty banal, and the thought arises: why did the Yale Rep decide to
produce this play? Well, there’s more going on than meets the initial eye.
Blackout. The play, as shallow as it is, is over? Nope. A door opens and Ayoub comes out to announce
that there will be a talk-back of sorts, for they’ve arranged for a video link
with the playwright, who is in a refugee camp somewhere in the tortured Middle
East. Enter, supposedly, the playwright, listed in the program as “Woman”
(Rasha Zamamiri) with an Interpreter (Abubakr Ali). The cast gathers and begins
to ask questions. The answers are a bit disturbing, for a “kiss” is not just a
kiss and a “cough” carries greater meaning. In other words, the director
(Ayoub, playing Bana) and the rest of the cast have totally misunderstood what
the play is about.
The answer? Well, let’s do it all again, and this time we’ll
get it right. So, off they go, with a lot of cinematic-style quick-cuts and
lighting pyrotechnics, compliments of Erin Earle Fleming, to reprise the play,
but this time with a lot more angst, anxiety and pain, and with just about
everyone coughing. In the process, as a statement of…well…I’m not sure exactly
what…the cast proceeds to destroy much of the set (perhaps ripping at the soap
opera façade?).That the audience now knows what a “kiss” and a “cough” mean is
meant to add gravitas to the play’s final section. Maybe it does, but when you
have to read the articles in the playbill to get an understanding of what
Calderon is getting at – rather than it actually being up there on the stage –
you have a less than satisfying theatrical experience. Soap operas and Syria?
What’s that all about? Well, read the playbill article.
There’s no doubt that what has happened in Syria is
horrific, and the play feeds off this, but in an off-hand and somewhat
pretentious manner. By that I mean that it doesn’t generate its own center of
gravity but relies on the audience’s awareness of the Syrian tragedy to fill in
the blanks. Thus, the play’s final moments, when it seeks to draw on this
awareness, seem somehow fraudulent, a borrowing that is not deserved or earned.
The odd thing about this play is that, for all of its
portentousness, it has, in its underlying premise, the possibility for being a
tantalizing farce: cast gets it wrong, writer sets them right, cast makes
another attempt and, in the process, makes a hash of the whole thing. But
that’s not “Kiss,” which strives to be more than it really is.
“Kiss” runs through
May 19. For tickets or more information call 203-432-1234 or go to
www.yalerep.org
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