Production: Doppelgänger

Written and Directed by: Len Falkenstein

Company: Theatre Free Radical

Cast: Nicholas Cole, Jordan Dashner, Adrienne Fitch & Matthew Spinney

Theatre: Granville Island Stage

Showing: Sept 5-7, 11-12

Vancouver Fringe Festival

Reviewed by: Colette Gunson (Vancouver Correspondent - Canada)

With a cast of four and bare-bones set—four oil barrels and an eight foot projection screen—this Fredericton theatre company focuses on the relatively new tactic that has emerged in contemporary conflicts…the hostage video. A dark comedy with an energetic combination of singing narration and dialogue, Doppelgänger follows the plight of the aptly named Adam Smith, a Calgary oil worker who is kidnapped and tortured in Iraq for crimes he swears he did not commit.

As the torture increases in intensity, Adam’s reality becomes blurred—and so does his innocence. Did he really commit the crimes that his torturers accuse him of, or is he merely guilty by association? Are we all guilty by association?

The highlight of the play for me was the creative use of the props and projections. The actors effortlessly transformed the oil barrels into drums, dance partners, pipelines and coffins. The interplay between the actors and the projections was even more compelling. The screen morphed from Calgary cityscape and Alberta oil fields, to a frightening prison and the shadowy dream-world of Adam Smith.

Although I appreciated the company’s intent to address some important modern-day questions about our dependence on oil and the Iraq occupation, Doppelgänger failed to pull me in entirely. I found myself dangling between my theatre seat and the edge of the stage waiting to be transported into Adam Smith’s world, but never quite arriving. Doppelgänger tackles relevant subject matter but lacks the polish to really drive the themes home.