Theatre

By 5pound Theatre 

Saraswati Mahavidhyalaya

23rd January 2016

Review by James Burnside 

Perhaps Ariel Dorfman’s dark story’s greatest success is proving how much atmosphere can be achieved with minimal staging. Upon entering the theatre the atmosphere of Purgatorio is already thick enough to almost taste. The men and women are divided on opposite ends of the stage by a wall of mesh, forced to be on the literal ‘side’ of the character in front of them. The music creates a foreboding atmosphere and the darkness dimly lit with murky lights makes the audience feel as if they have been transported into a grim and haunted dimension.

The set-up is ingeniously simple. A woman seemingly driven mad by guilt and hatred is alone in a room. Standing beside her, separated by a barrier, is a mysterious man in a dark coat. There is a knife on a nearby table. The man asks her to repent and tell him about her history and most importantly her crimes – whereupon the woman bares her soul and secrets loudly and with passion. All is not what it seems however, as the mysterious man in the coat has secrets of his own. Both are guilty of sin in their own tragic ways. Before long the conversation erupts into an almost violent display of passion, love, lust, despair and anger as both struggle to find their way to redemption.

With very little in terms of set design and visuals, the strength of a play about two people who have been arguing for an eternity lives and dies on the ability of the performers. Both Freya Pragt and Jason Cavanagh acquit themselves admirably in their roles. Pragt begins the role strongly as a woman at the edge, equal parts enraged and heartbroken yet with a healthy layer of glib detachment. She hits hard early on and continues to be a tour de force, ramping up the intensity to the point where she comes off as both terrifying and terribly vulnerable.

At first she seems to eclipse her counterpart, Cavanagh, who seems more subdued and subtle in his performance. This is until a major change is revealed towards the middle, in which Cavanagh is able to shine in a different way. Rather than starting aggressively and ending in madness, Cavanagh portrays a rapidly cracking persona of stoicism as the damaged, vulnerable man underneath starts to come out. Together the pair form a cycle of emotions whose momentum never drops once it picks up the pace.

Purgatorio is a rare kind of play that shows how sometimes a little can be a lot. While it is perhaps a distant cousin to the lights and excitement of the Fringe Gardens, for audiences with a love of intense theatre, and a stomach for dark subject matter, Purgatorio comes highly recommended.

Purgatorio runs from January 21-31 at the Saraswati Mahavidhyalaya venue on Beaufort Street. Tickets available here.