THEATRE
Studio, Blue Room Theatre
The audience enters into a black box that is deceptively smaller than it seems at first, disorientated and searching for a light source that, eventually, shows them where to sit.
Opening night for the Summer Nights program at The Blue Room ensured a comfortably full house, brimming with Fringe performers eager to witness the highly anticipated show.
After our eyes adjust to the dim lighting, two figures take shape on the stage. These are our two guides through the landscape Maitland Schnaars has forged through the story of his mentally ill and morally malfunctioning protagonist, played by Schnaars himself. The other is his companion, partner, parent, and carer (Katya Shevtsov).
The two gradually, even hesitantly, begin their respective roles, Schnaars playing with a torch, like a fascinated cat, and Shevtsov sitting at a barbecue filled with props, touching up her makeup. The tension is palpable from the first cryptic sentence, intensified by the heavy shadows and hair-prickling soundtrack.
The next fifty-five minutes are the most unsettling I’ve seen on a stage before, created by a mix of extremely believable dialogue, poetic renditions, sparse lighting, dissonant background piano, and two very compelling performances. What comes from this as a result is an emotional, and starkly honest, depiction of a man’s fight against his past to ensure his future, even if it means self-harm, hospitalisation, and the refusal of love.
The team of Schnaars, Shevtsov, and director, Joe Lui (The Book of Death), has worked seamlessly here to create an environment of extreme isolation with an atmosphere of heaviness that is not only haunting but also beautiful in the most realistic sense. Small touches like a cocktail of pills, a mirror in the corner, strategically placed gobos, and a bag full of poems, are just a handful of things that make If I Drown I Can Swim a memorable performance in the conglomerate of Fringe World.
If I Drown I Can Swim is showing until February 2nd
