Donia Sawwan as Lillith. Photo by Lindsay van Ekelenburg.
Returning to Lillith
By Jonathan van Ekelenburg
Presented by Seventh Circle Theatre
George Ignatieff Theatre
Sun. July 5 @ 3:30pm
Mon. July 6 @ 6:45pm
Wed. July 8 @ 4:15pm
Thu. July 9 @ 1:45pm
Fri. July 10 @ 9:45pm
Sun. July 12 @ 1:00pm
Tickets are $10 at the door.
Reviewed by Daina Valiulis
Returning to Lillith, a new play by Jonathan van Ekelenburg, sets the story of biblical characters Adam, Eve, and the First Wife, Lillith, in the modern day. What began as the winner of the Lyndesfarne One Minute Play Contest has expanded to 45 minutes of talking heads — and while the concept is intriguing and the writing style is actually quite good, the production falls apart on the weakness of the performers and direction.
Living as an undertaker, Adam (Jordan Imray) becomes the object of desire for Lillith (Donia Sawwan — also the director) who returns to him on the slab. He’s forced to choose between her and the simple-minded Eve (Stephanie Lalonde). Directing and starring in a production is exceedingly difficult to do at the best of times and this production definitely suffers for it. None of the actors connect — each seemed to be in his or her own world, and tension is non-existent in this story that should be predicated on those feelings between the characters.
If the acting and direction had been split between two people, perhaps this lack of energy could have been monitored and even remedied — actors very often require direction that lights a fire under their asses. Sadly, energy was at ground zero from start to finish. None of the actors seemed to honestly be listening to each other and each performer was overly concerned with emoting as much as possible, which made it difficult to be engaged in the show.
To be fair, the script itself was also on the weak side structurally, as predicaments and even whole ideas kept getting repeated. Happily, however, van Ekelenberg’s style and concept for a modern-day Adam and Eve were very interesting and held glimmers of potential.
