[NEohioPAL] Berko review: HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM @ none too fragile theater

[Roy Berko]

***************************************

Weakly conceived pacifist script produced at none too fragile
Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association & Cleveland Critics Circle)

There is a reconstructed theatre company in the area, none too fragile,
which  bills itself as “Akron and Northeast Ohio’s home for kick-a**
theater!.”   It has just opened it’s second show in its new venue.

Formerly affiliated with Bang and Clatter, Sean Derry and Alanna Romansky
have reconstituted the performance company and, after a short tenure in
Cuyahoga Falls, has settled into a space in the rear section of Bricco’s
restaurant.  Derry, who has built no less than six theaters, swears “this
is the most permanent and final one.

Karen Sunde’s HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM is billed as a pacifist
tragedy, which is timely and  haunting.  If you consider a bias toward the
Arabic cause to be acceptable, the play fits the definition of “pacifist.”

Sunde sets out to create a modern myth in which a wounded male Israeli
soldier (Abraham) and a female Palestinian terrorist (Sabra) find
themselves in Southern Lebanon, at night, in a cave-like enclosure.  Strong
tension and mistrust are present.  They spar over homes and rights and
threaten each other with death.  She tells horror stories about what was
done to her family by the Israelis.  He tells stories about his grandmother
and the Holocaust.  Voices and sounds invade their interactions.
Eventually, through a series of questionably motivated writing maneuvers,
the duo has a sexual liaison.  The motivation of how “love” has blossomed
between the duo is as illusionary as the premise of pacifism.

Sunde, in an interview, states, “I am a story-teller.  Life fascinates me,
so I portray it in any form it seems to call for.”

I found the play filled with propaganda, couched in the form of the
stories.  It is a diatribe of horrors that Israelis committed, with little
balance of the history of the Arab inspired attacks against the Zionist
state.

As emotionally moving as the play may be, biased views do not a pacifist
tale make.  If anything this furthers the cause of hatred.

The play, which was originally published in 2001, and officially premiered
in January of 2004, is in the process of being made into a movie sponsored
by the IDOC/NORTH AMERICA.  The organization “deals with contemporary and
recent historical issues that relate, on a perspective from the individual
to the global, to the concerns of opinion-makers and public policy-making
groups in the United States, and, where possible, abroad.”  They propose
that “The Abraham Project is intended to highlight the need to reconcile
Israelis and Palestinians, and to dissolve the death-grip in which each is
held by the other.”

Though that mission is noble, HOW HIS BRIDGE CAME TO ABRAHAM is not the
kind of vehicle to develop that goal.  It is too biased, not well written,
and too unclear in objective purpose.

The none too fragile production, under the direction of Sean Derry is often
compelling.  Performed in a sand covered area, dust flies, conflict is
evident, the acting good.

Both Gabriel Riazi and Leighann Niles Delorenzo form meaningful characters,
stretching beyond the limits of the script.  In spite of their excellent
acting, the overall supposed message is missing.  Nowhere do we get what
the author says is her purpose, “a distinct work that will help, and will
answer ‘What can I do?’ in a world and a time that needs all of our best
efforts.”  The author further states that she set out on a mission, “So
they [the audience] could leave that space with new hope, new compassion,
and a fresh determination to resolve their peoples’ conflict.”  Again,
where she perceives this in her script is a mystery.

Capsule judgement: In spite of good acting and an intense production, HOW
HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM has such a biased development that it fails to
live up to the stated goal of educating the audience on hope and compassion
as it relates to a pacifist attitude toward the Israeli/Arab conflict.

HOW HIS BRIDGE CAME TO ABRAHAM runs through December 8 at none to fragile
theater located in Bricco’s Restaurant, 1841 Merriman Road, Akron.  Use the
free valet parking, as car space is limited.  For tickets call 330-671-4563
or go to http://www.nonetoofragile.com

*****************************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20121111/ac80a607/attachment-0004.htm>