none too fragile’s ‘Sans Merci’ a hard to watch, must-see drama

 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics

 

Merciless. 

 

That word not only translates the title of Johnna Adams’ brutally honest, achingly tender and excruciatingly bold 2008 drama “Sans Merci,” it pretty much describes none too fragile’s spectacular production of it.

 

The play’s title and devastating theme of love, death and unrelenting longing are drawn from John Keats’ 1884 poem “La Belle Dame Sans Merci,” which tells the tale of an unfortunate “death-pale” knight who is bewitched by a beautiful woman who steals his heart and then leaves him stranded and alone, forever thinking of and yearning for her.  

 

The poem was written in a slow and economical form with a deliberate and masterful absence of detail, intended to entice the reader to read on and want more.  And so does this play.

 

 For more of this review, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/.