THEATER REVIEW
“Mysterious Connections”
Grade: C+
Through Aug. 9 (in rotating repertory). 8 p.m. July 27, Aug. 2, Aug. 5 and Aug. 9; 2 p.m. July 28; 7 p.m. Aug. 4. $18-$23. Actor's Express (at the King Plow Arts Center), 887 W. Marietta St., Atlanta. 1-866-811-4111, www.essentialtheatre.com.
Bottom line: Interesting, if not exactly lucid.
A dark psychological drama written by Essential Theatre artistic director Peter Hardy, “Mysterious Connections” is about the power of dreams, the boundaries of reality and how those two worlds inevitably clash.
Under the stylish direction of frequent Essential collaborator Ellen McQueen, the production is genuinely chilling in its own dream state. For a number of nightmarish sequences, McQueen incorporates ominous mood music, stark lighting and shadows, a black-hooded phantom figure, slow motion and even a smoke machine to considerable effect.
In reality, it’s all the talking about dreams that bogs down the play. Set in an unnamed college town, the story involves Isobel (Daryl Lisa Fazio), a lesbian philosophy student who’s taking a dream meditation class, and Pamela (Celia Gunn-Zaboli), an introverted wallflower with a kinky secret sex life.
What begins as a casual, presumably platonic friendship slowly turns into something more surreal, as the women open up about skeletons from their respective closets — Isobel’s former girlfriend, Pamela’s dead sister — and as they start to somehow invade or haunt one another’s dreams.
Lots of deep and meaningful discussions ensue about unchartered physical and spiritual realms, about being true to oneself, conquering danger and even controlling or changing one’s dreams. But making coherent sense of the plot becomes increasingly difficult.
Fazio’s Isobel is earnest, if mostly one-note, and newcomer Gunn-Zaboli doesn’t bring sufficient dimension to the extremely challenging role of Pamela. Together, their finest moments are a couple of intimate star-gazing scenes, nicely visualized by McQueen. Ben Silver is the token man in the ensemble, playing both a young film student who’s obsessed with Pamela in reality and a faceless, threatening presence in her dreams.
Gainfully employed around town back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, before leaving the business altogether for many years, actress Nancy Powell (nee Lowery) is a singular breath of fresh air in the cast. Her scene-stealing turn as Pamela’s sunny and down-to-earth roommate provides the show with a balanced voice of reason, a break from all the convoluted psychobabble and a more or less normal character for the audience to identify with.
“Mysterious Connections” is one of three Georgia-written dramas in Essential’s 15th annual summer festival, alternating performances with Matthew Myers’ “Stray Dogs” and Katie Grant Shalin’s “Swimming With Jellyfish” through Aug. 11 at Actor’s Express.
Although Hardy’s new play is not uninteresting, it is rather overwrought (especially compared to his last Essential play, 2010’s charming and breezy romantic comedy “Sally and Glen at the Palace”). McQueen’s production gives it certain dreamy touches, but ultimately it’s a case of style over substance.
