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My overall impression
Two intriguing, unconventional shows bound together by themes of pain, torture and cruelty, but leavened with a sharp intelligence and a redeeming beauty.
The superb acting and directing made both pieces resonant and accessible. Conversation Storm is a non-linear, loopy, and at times mordantly funny meditation on torture and the way we argue hard political questions. Old friends are reunited and find themselves arguing the same way they did in high school, but this time about the tired “ticking time bomb” scenario. As they get deeper into the specifics, they go to greater and greater lengths to expose each other’s position as vicious and absurd. In The House of Cards one actor, Yolanda Seabourne, delivers a poetic monologue in a mesmerizing fashion, even as she constructs an actual house of cards that reached to eight or nine tiers tall. She relates in pellucid tones parables and anecdotes of spellbinding beauty and terrifying violence. The device of the building of the house of cards rivets a part of your attention, keeping you wide-eyed as you follow her deft and graceful hands, but without any distraction from the substance of her words The set for both shows, designed by Erik Flatmo, was at once minimal and fiery. Jeff Gardner’s sound design was evocative and eerie. The whole thing came together beautifully. Put these shows at the top of your list!