The Permanent Night
Review by Julia Furay
Friday 15 August 2008
New York City's famous blackout of 2003 is the setting for this excellent new play, written by Kari Bentley-Quinn and performed by a very talented cast of four. As the lights go out on the city, well-to-do and picture-perfect husband and wife Spencer and Heather (Dave Beagle and Vina Less) are waiting for his rebellious, bitter young sister Jane (Kat Garson, who's a terrific find) to visit. When she arrives, it doesn't take long before alcohol, the heat and the darkness bring out latent familial tensions. We watch the disintegration of Spencer and Heather's relationship concurrently with Jane's budding romance with jocular and newly wealthy neighbor Justin (Cory Whitfield). The play is, of course, set just two years after 9/11, and its effect still looms large on the characters as they come to grips with old grudges, open wounds and unspoken problems. Bentley-Quinn and director Heather Arnson have lightened the pathos with some nice moments of humor (Ms. Less in particular makes for a very funny, manic young socialite), which makes the show even more enjoyable. All in all, a standout production.
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