Daniel J. Raps, Erin Rae Zalaski, Jesse Wood, and Christina Malanga in Beyond the light — at Calderwood Pavilion; photo credit Heart and Dagger Productions
Abigail Matzeder, Michael Underhill, and Terrence Patrick Haddad in CRAVE — at Calderwood Pavilion, Photo Credit: Heart and Dagger Productions
Crave by Sarah Kane and Beyond the Light by Joey C. Pelletier, Heart & Dagger Productions, Boston Center for the Arts Rehearsal Hall A, 3/9/12-3/17/12, http://www.heartanddagger.org/.Partial nudity and mature themes
Reviewed by Becca Kidwell
(Boston, MA) Many have tried to dramatize depression to mixed results. The problem tends to be that depression by it’s very nature is a passive thing-the person doesn’t want to do anything. Heart & Dagger escapes the trap of a dry, clinical look at depression by presenting two one acts that cut to the visceral core of despair and the fight to survive.
Beyond the Light is a combination of narrative and dance that explores an addict’s attempted suicide and his unrelenting struggle between hopelessness and life. The music and dance examine the thoughts and feelings that would be trite and expository and provides the emotion and thought that cannot be expressed.
In Crave, a woman is tortured by her thoughts of the past, self-loathing, and fear. Three figures move and talk around her pulling her in every direction. Melanie Garber’s direction creates a scene more terrifying and more realistic than any horror film through a highly stylized rendition of this play.
Both plays leave the audience with a glimmer of light, but nothing corny or sweet. Both individuals are reaching towards hope and life with the knowledge that they will always have to deal with the fears and doubts that surround. If you want to see a true-to-life depiction of what a person goes through in depression, Crave and Beyond the Light will show you the real struggle in the soul between the darkness and the light.
