Northern Stage, a regional nonprofit theater based in White River Junction, Vt., began its run of "Damascus" on Feb. 17 at the Briggs Opera House. The play will run through March 7 with 13 more performances.
A dramedy that deals with the universal themes of romance, culture and politics, "Damascus" tells the story of Scottish textbook author Paul (Peter Simon Hilton), who finds himself taken by Muna (Lanna Joffrey), a spirited Syrian education ministry worker. In attempting to sell his English language textbook to Muna, Paul faces a large cultural divide, educational censorship and temptations of infidelity.
Paul's stay in Damascus is initially extended by an airport bombing. Encouraged by a romantic interest in Muna, Paul decides to delay his return flight further, using a snowstorm as his excuse. As one character put it, "Sometimes it snows, sometimes people die."
These incidents highlight the element of surprise that runs through Greig's play, which delights in contrasting the unexpected with the expected. The city of Damascus, as portrayed in the play, matches neither Paul's nor audiences' expectations instead of the Syrian desert, we find snow. Similarly, Paul finds a culturally rich city, not a warzone.
The award-winning play developed out of Greig's experiences conducting playwriting workshops for five years in the Middle East.
"I didn't go out there with the idea of writing a play; quite the opposite, in fact. My job was to encourage young Arab writers to write plays, but the experience of being out of one's own culture was so strong for me that it demanded I explore it in writing," Greig said in a press release by Northern Stage.
"Damascus," first produced at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2007, caught the attention of Brooke Ciardelli, Northern Stage's founding artistic director.
"I thought it was so provocative and of the moment and time globally," Ciardelli said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
Ciardelli also praised Greig's ability to depict the disparity between western and Arab ideologies without forcing his own opinion onto audiences.
"It wasn't preaching about anything," Ciardelli said. "In fact, I remember going, Wow, it is so complicated, the whole thing is so complicated. How are we going to figure this out?' I thought it was a really interesting debate [between the two ideologies] to bring to the theater."
Ciardelli said she began the process of obtaining the rights to the play soon after seeing it performed in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Northern Stage production is billed as the U.S. premiere of "Damascus," despite a brief run of the Edinburgh production in New York.
"It is basically the second cast that the show has ever had," Ciardelli said.
Casting the play presented one of the largest challenges of the project, according to Ciardelli. While she had little trouble initially finding actors for the play's five roles, she said she found herself second-guessing her selections.
"I felt that the play is really about diversity and so I really thought strongly that I wanted cast members that represented that," Ciardelli said.
In this version, a Cuban, Scotsman, Iranian, Russian and Indian comprise the cast. Although the actors' nationalities do not always align with the cultural identies of the characters they portray, the diverse cast highlights the play's concern with the issue of multiculturalism in a manner lacking from the original production featuring all British actors, according to Ciardelli.
The play features strong performances on all ends. Tony Nominee John Herrera, originally from Cuba, plays the role of Muna's boss Wasim, who spends the bulk of the play attempting to romance his colleague with poetry. An essential depiction of the clash of realism with idealism, he is jaded by the political disorder of the Middle East. Wasim lacks the enthusiasm for change and improvement that both Muna and Paul share.
Elena (Nina Kassa) and Zakaria (Vandit Bhatt) provide comic relief throughout the play. Elena, a hotel pianist, provides musical accompaniment in addition to witty commentary, while Zakaria, a desk clerk, focuses on finding American women to sleep with. But even these characters cannot escape the disheartening state of the Middle East.
With these characters, Greig's play places comedy and drama side by side, often leaving audiences unsure of whether to laugh or cry. For the most part this tactic is successful, but sometimes drama unfolds without a foundation and comedic aspects are overdone. In particular, Elena's running commentary becomes annoying and unnecessary at times.
"Damascus" bridges two very distinct cultures. Language barriers and failed translations between characters will keep audiences laughing. But beware while cultural differences may be treated lightheartedly at first, the stakes escalate as the play progresses, challenging audiences to reconsider their culturally constructed assumptions of the Middle East.
