Review:

Being encountered at 'Encounters'

Nilma DOLE

The dramatic double duo Adamaly siblings - Adam Mohammed and Nafessa Amiruddeen certainly put out a brilliant production titled 'Encounters' and the good news is that they are planning on a re-run soon after its success. Being performed by Adam, Ranmali Mirchandani and Tracy Holsinger, the chemistry between the performers exude real talent, professional mastery of emotions and true professionalism in theatre. Many theatre goers didn't deny that 'Encounters' encompassing a double treat of 'The Waiting Room' and the Pulitzer nominated 'Love Letters' was definitely one of the best they have ever seen.

The first drama 'The Waiting Room' by John Bowen was superbly acted by Adam and Ranmali with a funny 'robotic' role by Tracy Holsinger. Harriet is shown into a waiting room and after a few moments, Paul comes too. Being the 'nervous' type, she makes some small talk giving advice and they play a game while they wait. In the back of her mind, she feels that she knows Paul from somewhere but cannot place him and the fact that they are wearing identical watches confirms her suspiscion. After much talk, they discover that they were in love (or lived together with) the same man. Harriet was his wife and he left her for Paul, his gay lover who he started living with but ended going back to her.

However, both Harriet and Paul never loved him and Harriet says that she asked him to leave in the end.

The ending culminates in a poignant but positive scene and finally the audience finds out that they were at a mortuary waiting to identify their lover's body and the scene ends when Harriet holds her hand to Paul.

About the second play, one theatre fan said, "The play 'Love Letters' gave me some bittersweet memories of how lovely it was to receive a letter before technology was used as emails, texts, video messages are the present norm". What really takes you by surprise is that even though the drama 'Love Letters' is seen as a general 'two-character' play, the emotions that are rampant within the main characters at every stage of their lives invoke a sense of identity that the audience can connect with.

Following the lives of Melissa Gardner and Andrew Makepeace Ladd III who have a lasting friendship for 60 years finally ending with Melissa's death with her apparent suicide, the two are drawn into each others lives with sheer willingness.

Melissa is portrayed as rich, spoiled pompous artist who has attended private schools who "hates writing these damned letters" and eventually we see her divorced, an alcoholic and then a kind of nympho. Andy Ladd, on the other hand is a bright spark, a Yale prodigy, a naval officer, a lawyer, and then is a U.S. Senator, saying that "writing letters is what he loves most".

Performances by Tracy Holsinger was definitely good as she has real grace and the right burst of emotion that makes her character so real you can almost touch it.

Adam, also did justice to his role reflecting what a veteran he has become in theatre from his Shakespeare days. The stage chemistry between Tracy and him was infectious which even reduced some members to tears with its poignant ending. As playwright A.R.Gurney said about his play, "This is a play, or rather a sort of a play, which needs no theater, no lengthy rehearsal, no special set, no memorization of lines and no commitment from its two actors beyond the night of performance. It is designed simply to be read aloud by an actor and an actress of roughly the same age, sitting side by side at a table." No wonder Elizabeth Taylor performed it two years ago with James Earl Jones for charity.