The show, performed through Bloomington Playwrights’ Project and directed by Chad Rabinovitz, is the United States premiere of the 2013 Australian play created by Van Badham. The first performance was Oct. 2, and it will end this coming weekend with three shows at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15-17.
“I think this is my favorite BPP show,” said Patti Russo, a Bloomington resident who said she has seen every production by the theater.
Symbolism is woven throughout the play, which is based off the Greek myth of Ariadne and Theseus. According to the myth, Crete’s ruler, Minos, avenged his son’s death by ordering 18 young men and women be sent to the labyrinth to be devoured by the Minotaur, which had the body of a man but the head of a bull.
Theseus was one of the men sent to the labyrinth, but Ariadne, who knew how to help him escape should he destroy the beast, had fallen in love with him. As he entered the labyrinth, he held onto a red string that unspooled from her hands on the outside so he would be able to find his way back.
The set reflected this with crisscrossing lines of red string above and behind the actors.
There was also a 7-foot tall moon to the right, along with many round paper lanterns extending down from the ceiling — the “coronet of stars.”
The play begins with characters Marion and Michael, played by Chicago residents Emily Radke and Nate Curlott, narrating a story about two people who work together and are attracted to each other.
From there, it became evident the actors are both narrators and characters, demonstrated through rapid-fire shifts between first- and third-person. This continued during the play with asides that both describe action and illustrate scenes.
Bloomington resident Don Breiter said Curlott and Radke were “two very hardworking actors.” Debbie Burnam, who is married to Breiter, said the acting was “superb.”
“I was extremely moved,” Burnam said. “It was a very clever production.”
Curlott and Radke used few props, among them two simple desks on wheels, two chairs, two white sheets and a wooden frame that held a pane of glass. These props transformed into various objects — and symbols — throughout the play.
There was lust, transgression, shame and love, exposed through quiet moments, dark humor and passion.
The audience was so captivated that, at one point during the play when the lights shut off suddenly, a few gasps and weak chuckles pierced the black room.
When the show ended after about an hour and a half, it took a moment for audience members to stand and move out of the theater. Two pairs of shoes, black Nike flip flops and pink ballet shoes, remained a few feet away from each other on the stage.
“It was beyond your everyday,” Breiter said. “It reaches back to a more symbolic and poetic kind of drama.”
