Venue: Flight Path Theatre (Marrickville NSW), Feb 26 – Mar 1, 2020
Playwright: Ira Levin
Director: Ehsan Aliverdi
Cast: Parisa Mansuri, Hamed Masteri, Shiva Mokri, Arash Salehi
Theatre review
At the beginning of Ira Levin’s Veronica’s Room, a young woman is locked in a room by an older couple. She insists that her name is Susan, even though those who hold the key say that she is Veronica. The suspenseful mystery keeps us guessing, as its characters feud with parallel narratives. We vacillate between wondering if the story is about mental illness, or a strange tale of entrapment and gaslighting.
It is an entertaining work, featuring an appropriate dimension of eerie supernaturality rendered by director and lighting designer Ehsan Aliverdi, who fills the show with flamboyant gestures that give the experience a delicious theatricality. Performed entirely in Farsi (with English surtitles), the cast brings exceptional energy to the piece, for a passionate staging that has us absolutely mesmerised.
Actor Parisa Mansuri plays the young woman, with an emotional complexity and intensity that makes the central riddle even more captivating. Shiva Mokri and Arash Salehi take on a bizarre range of roles, each one compelling and intriguing. Both performers are powerful presences that impress with a sense of fastidiousness to their approach. A fourth character is brought to extravagant life by Hamed Masteri, whose gradual escalation to a state of lunacy is a joy to watch.
Ira Levin’s women may not feel realistic, but it remains a pleasure that they occupy central positions in his play. It is true that women can be naive, and women can be evil, as represented in Veronica’s Room, but we are also resourceful and strong. Although Levin has put on paper something that is truly fascinating, we should question his choices, especially if we believe that humans have become more sophisticated as a species, half a century on from the play’s original staging. Fiction always allows us to manipulate outcomes, and how we choose to see ourselves, is entirely in our hands.
www.nomadartgroup.com | www.flightpaththeatre.org
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