Playwright: Mona Mansour. At: The Gift Theatre, 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave. Tickets: 773-283-7071; TheGiftTheatre.org; $30-$40. Runs through: April 9
Partisans of this world premiere probably will be drawn to lovers Mia ( Brittany Burch ) and Derya ( Ashley Agbay ), women who bridge gaps of culture and country to be together.
Their chemistry is seen in some non-graphic physical interaction, but the crucial elementas in most relationship playsis their ability to communicate with each other, or not. Mia, an American photo-journalist in Istanbul, is suffering an emotional melt-down and has barricaded herself from Derya with petulance and denial. Mia's inevitable realization scene occurs an hour into this 80-minute play, after Mia's mother, Jane ( Alexandra Main ), arrives to help. Those not so attracted to the playand I am one of thosewill find this relationship too predictable and also insufficiently well-developed to make Unseen interesting.
Mia's melt down is common to newspersons covering earthly hell holes. They see savage acts and agonies inflicted in horrible ways upon civilians, sometimes by their own government, but they cannot engage with victims. They are not supposed to save, help or feed anyone but only observe. And then they go home: the journalists retreat to enclaves with food, drink, warmth and protection. Eventually, some feel their humanity dissolving and can't take it anymore. In Istanbul in 2016, Mia witnesses the brutalities of conservative strongman Recep Erdogan ( prime minister from 2003 and Turkey's president since 2014 ), and can't take it anymore.
The thing is, author Mona Mansour makes no use of the locale. There are scarcely any Istanbul specifics of place or lifestyle and almost no discussion of Turkish politics. Unseen could take place in any generic global hotspot. Why Istanbul? Also, the cultural differences between Mia and Deryaone a Christian American and the other a Turkish Muslimare nearly ignored. Religion and culture neither divide nor attract these women; but if Unseen isn't about politics or place or cultural divides, what you have left is a fairly-ordinary relationship play. Derya and Jane can help Mia only after Mia opens up to them. The self-disgust of journalistic survivor's guilt is real enough, but it's been explored in a number of plays and films. Is the lesbian overlay sufficient to distinguish Unseen from the pack? It isn't for me.
Under director Maureen Payne-Hahner, the acting seemed lackadaisical much of the time, too softly spoken and not very energetic. Even an intimate store-front theater of less than 70 seats requires actors to project and point their lines. Still, each actor had unexpected moments of sparkle, among them a laughing scene for Main and Burch's tearful center-piece revelation. The wide, shallow, multilevel scenic design by Sarah JHP Watkins squeezes most of the action to the audience left side of the stage. Brock Alter's projections of Islamic motifs provide atmosphere.