Creative License has been the resident theater company at Cohoes Music Hall for the past three years. During this time they have offered challenging material that despite its high quality might, for lack of a better term, be regarded as non-commercial. But, bear in mind, non-commercial is high praise to many people.
With “Afterlife: a Ghost Story” they are upping their game. It’s an intense, provocative work that is given a first rate presentation. It is challenging both to the actors and to the audience. This is because playwright Stephen Yockey offers information in small dollops.
For example, from almost the opening beat it’s clearly about a couple, Danielle and Connor, going through the process of grief. However, it’s well into the first act before you have enough information to figure out who died. But not how. It is never definitively stated what the ocean had to do with it.
The ocean is of major importance to the play. The reason the couple is at their beach house is to secure their home against an incoming storm. They are too late and the storm hits while they are there.
The second act finds them separated in a limbo like existence where they are tormented by strange entities. One is a philosopher bird, another is a postman who destroys letters.
In another space there is the angry and bitter Seamstress and the tea-pouring Proprietress who is meant to represent, or at least speak for the ocean. In this segment we also meet their son, who is also isolated. The mood of the act is “No Exit” meets “Alice in Wonderland.”
Essentially you have two plays for the price of one. The first act is a two-hander about dealing with loss in the present. The second is terrifyingly contemplative. It asks, what memories are vital and who do you becomes if you discard those that are most meaningful?
The first act is dominated by anger. Danielle is angry at everything, especially the ocean and her inability to get past her grief. Connor claims to be doing better than his wife, but he takes out his submerged pain by being angry at Danielle.
Ian LaChance plays Connor and Angelique Powell is Danielle. They are two of the areas finest actors. The tension between them is riveting and their verbal attacks are as revealing as they are scorching. Indeed, the performances present a wish list to one day see them together in a production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, when both actors age into the leading roles.
However, perhaps because this effort has two directors, Aaron Holbritter and Casey Polomaine, there seems to be a lack of a fully rounded vision for Danielle and Connor. Pain and anger can be effectively shown in ways other than shouting and yelling.
Though both actors are, at times, able to internalize their pain, their screaming battles make them more a couple dealing with individual grief rather than a loving pair suffering a mutual loss. Absent is a sense of enduring love.
Aside from a lack of being one-note, this does not greatly reduce the power of the first act, However, it does alter the feeling towards the couple. “Afterlife…” is not a play with a clear narrative. It is an ephemeral experience in which the audience must share the pain of the couples. If mutual empathy is not established the Existentiast-based second act in which the entire family is isolated from each other, fails to work on an emotional level. It’s a less-than-satisfying experience to study loss on an intellectual level for two hours and forty minutes.
The production is greatly enhanced by the superior video projections and the tension-generating sound created by Holbritter. The moody lighting by Abby Rose adds to Polomaine’s simple yet functional set design. The clever puppetry of Matt Sorenson is used to perfection by David Quinones.
Supporting roles are difficult as they act as symbols rather than beings. Each is well performed by Sara Paupini and Rhainnon Antico. Young Luke Gaudreau is likable as the son.
“Afterlife: A Ghost Story” is a play that is without resolution or an obvious point of view. However, it will leave you pondering about what emotion is important enough to carry with you throughout eternity.
“Afterlife: a ghost story” continues at Cohoes Music Hall until Sunday. For tickets and information go to CohoesMusicHall.org
Bob Goepfert is theater reviewer for the Troy Record.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.