The Irish Classical Theatre Company is typically known for its high-quality productions. Although "The Island," by Athol Fugard, is not the most inspirational or captivating script to grace the stage at the Andrews Theatre, the quality of each individual component of the performance is singular in its meticulous devotion to recreating the atmosphere of a South African prison during apartheid.
Directed by Jerry Pooe, "The Island" opens with two prisoners hard at work. John (Mbheki Mabhida) and Winston (Wonderboy Gumede) are cellmates who, throughout the play, discuss and philosophize about their own states of freedom and the parallels between their captivity and the plight of the fictional character Antigone.
Although the relevance of the play may have been more obvious in its original South African context, much is lost on the modern-day American viewer, simply by virtue of ignorance about the details of the South African struggle. For college students whose lives had barely begun before the end of apartheid, conceiving the madness of open and institutionalized racism is nearly impossible.
Thanks to this and the liberal use of South African slang, large portions of the play are rendered nearly incomprehensible.
However, especially in the first act, Mabhida and Gumede show in their every motion the grace of dancers. During the play's quieter moments, their performances cut deep to the anguish suffered by both political prisoners.
With passions running high about such a volatile subject, it is only a shame that much of the dialogue is impossible to understand by virtue of the high volume used primarily by Mabhida in the first act. Whether because of the subject matter or Mabhida's decision to have mercy on the tender ears of his audience, his exclamations thankfully were significantly quieter during the second act.
This made way for Winston's final performance as Antigone - a performance at odds with the rest of the play's realism, thanks to Winston's decision to use a prison performance to denounce not only a hated guard and the prison on Robbins Island, but also the unfair practices of a government which makes laws without representation from significant parts of its population.
The set, a simple platform lined with concrete blocks and suggesting one cell among many with a tiny overhead window, provided a simple but effective backdrop against which the intellectual exercise of the script could play out. Set designer Scott Behrend has done an admirable job of creating a space in which the audience feels as closed in as the characters, and as envious as Winston when John announces his successful appeal and upcoming release.
Although the overall production is glossy and finished, "The Island" never quite transcends the challenges presented by Fugard's dense script. Its characters are described as political prisoners, but this fact is lost in the current production - without researching the play itself, there is little way for audience members to know whether they are watching mass murderers or two practitioners of civil disobedience.
Though the play is an indictment against apartheid, and the Eager Artists Company has done the best they could with a piece of work with limited accessibility to audience members, "The Island" was far from the most entertaining piece the ICTC has presented - and while education is a laudable goal for any artistic venture, entertainment needs to be present as well in order to create a compelling theatrical experience.
