Shadow Passion by Anthony Crowley, Sept 9, 2007

Shadow Passion
by Anthony Crowley

Chapel off Chapel, Sept 9 to 22, 2007

Reviewer: Kate Herbert on Sept 9, 2007

Shadow Passion, written and directed by Anthony Crowley, blends a range of social issues, naturalistic and non-naturalistic theatrical styles and several narrative threads. The complexity of the script and its production makes it interesting and challenging in parts and opaque in others.

The main narrative concerns Catherine (Danielle Carter), a surgical registrar, and her husband Robert (Andrew Blackman) who is a policy adviser to the Immigration Minister’s right hand woman (Glenda Linscott). Since they terminated Catherine’s pregnancy with a Downes Syndrome baby, Catherine and Robert’s intimate relationship has been based upon mutual infliction of pain as they attempt to conceive another baby. They are now “two halves of the one scar,” says Catherine.

The second story focuses on Ali (Ali Ammouchi), an Iraqi refugee who cleans at Catherine’s hospital and befriends her mother Margaret (Sue Jones) who is a terminally ill patient. Ali’s permanent visa is revoked and he faces deportation.

The naturalistic scenes are generally more successful than the more abstract scenes. Crowley’s writing effectively weaves facts about immigration policy into the dialogue. The genuinely caring relationship between Ali and Margaret allows the development of both personal and political content. Their intimacy, which is both amusing and poignant, is enhanced by engaging and skilful performances of Ammouchi and Jones.

Carter and Blackman also provide rounded and committed performances and balance the competent public persona of their characters with their fraught and dangerous private roles. Their tortured sexual scenes are both repellent and strangely compelling.

Some of the more imagistic, poetic monologues performed upstage in an ethereal light are impenetrable or, at least, florid. The butcher’s monologue and Catherine’s dreamlike tap dancing recollections of her pregnancy feel awkward and misplaced, diverting us from the central narrative.

Crowley’s direction uses the open space to create effectively numerous locations: a hospital ward, bedroom, clinic, dining room or refugee boat. The child puppet, in the style of the Japanese Bunraku (Andrew McDougall, Nathan  Reardon), is beautifully lit (Paul Jackson) and floats in space as his father, Ali, tells the story of his tragic boat journey. However the puppet loses its impact considerably when disconnected from Ali and his refugee narrative.

There is much to recommend this production of Shadow Passion including the cast and the challenging socio-political issues, but the abstract parts of the script need further refinement.

By Kate Herbert