Reviewed on August 15, 2011 "The Fundamentalist" FringeNYC 2011 Written by Juha Jokela (Translated by Eva Buchwald) Directed by Sebastian Nyman Agdur With Adam Smith, Jr. (Markus) and Anette Norgaard (Heidi)
Reviewed by David Roberts
The Scandinavian American Theater Company's first FringeNYC submission is a successful exploration of the ongoing debate between religious fundamentalists and religious moderates-liberals. This chronic (and often vitriolic) debate continued to have a profound effect on social progress in nation-states throughout the world. SATC's "The Fundamentalist" focuses this debate in a dramatic clash between Markus a priest who has abandoned his position as a parish priest and Heidi one of his former youth group members who has come to visit him fifteen years after he last saw her.
Why does Markus tell the story of this relationship to a group of former parishioners and supporters? Heidi's current church, The Church of the Living Word (pastored by Heidi's husband) has labeled Markus an instrument of the devil. This label is not bestowed upon him simply because of his liberal (satanic) theology which he expresses in his book; he "deserves" the appellation because of something that happened between him and Heidi those many years ago.
Adam Smith, Jr. is a convincing and complex Father Markus. He skillfully unfolds Markus's story of memory, emotion, guilt, confession, forgiveness, and redemption. Anette Norgaard's adolescent-to-adult Heidi engages the audience in her convoluted and clearly conflicted history with her former priest. The tension between their characters as the play rehearses their past and their present centers around the core of meaning of both liberalism and fundamentalism. However, beneath playwright Juha Jokela's carefully structured theological argument between Markus and Heidi simmers a history of emotional and psycho-sexual tension. Director Sebastian Nyman Agdur brings out the very best of script and actors in this must-see performance at the IATI Theatre.
What really happened or might have happened between Markus and Heidi will astound you and the ending of the play will linger with you for a very long time.
Permalink | Posted by David Roberts on Tuesday, August 23, 2011
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