The East Coast Theatre Company in association with Belvoir’s B Sharp recently presented Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse’s searching play, ‘Death Variations’, which has been given a fresh English translation by May-Britt Akerholt, downstairs at the Seymour Centre.
‘Death Variations’ dealt with the difficult subject matter of youth suicide. A teenage girl commits suicide, and her middle aged parents attempt to piece together why. Due to the somber nature of the material, Fosse chose to keep his characters anonymous.
East Coast’s Artistic Director Joseph Uchitel helmed the production and brought together an accomplished cast to perform the work. Two highly experienced and passionate actors, Patrick Dickson and Linda Cropper, played the older parents, whilst David Lyons and Luisa Hastings Edge played them as a young couple just starting out. Bojana Novakovic played the anguished daughter in a very touching performance. Ben Ager’s played the daughter’s friend.
This was engrossing theatre, as Fosse mined the emotional depths of his characters. The play was held together by two distinct journeys. The primary journey was the daughters’ as she became further and further ensconced in their own dark psychic world. Death, in the end, became like a seducer.
Then there was the journey of the two parents who, with their marriage in tatters, and time traveling through their relationship, trying to work out how they could have stopped their daughters’ demise.
