November 4-10, 2004

theater

Security Breach

by David Anthony Fox

"Have you ever seen Fiddler on the Roof?" Thomas asks the couple, though there will be no reminiscing about musical theater.

The situation at hand is more like a traveler's worst nightmare. Thomas, you see, is an FBI agent. He's interviewing Susan and her boyfriend, Raj, who have been pulled out of line at an airport and sequestered. The Fiddler story is a complicated metaphor about terrorism, bargaining and survival and a means by which Thomas hopes to engage the couple's confidence, or at least put them off guard.

It soon develops that Susan, a Jewish-American liberal, is not the target, despite her somewhat strident social views. The FBI's real interest is Raj, an American of Indian descent. He is a physician and humanitarian — or so it seems. And though the talk runs in circles ("There are no right answers," says Thomas, but we don't believe him; "I don't care about politics," says Raj, and we don't believe him either), it grows evident that this interrogation is not the simple case of racial profiling that Susan thought it was.

There's a lot of initial punch in Stuart Flack's Homeland Security. It's a good setup, and the first few scenes of FBI sessions have a clever combination of humor and terse energy. The evolving question in the play — is Raj completely innocent, or an unwitting accomplice, or more deeply involved? — is gripping enough that we wait in anticipation. The final scene offers elegant symmetry (and, from director Seth Rozin, a powerful tableau).

Homeland Security, though, loses its tautness in the middle. Scenes go on too long, and an additional character — Susan's ex-husband, Paul — introduces several unnecessary subplots. What begins as a smart script turns talky. Toward the end, characters are wandering through an inexplicable surreal sequence and our minds are wandering, too.

The InterAct production is a bit of a mixed bag. Rozin offers a clean, articulate staging. Nick Embree's set (a disquieting mosaic of fragments of information — phone and birth records, passports, etc.), Peter Whinnery's moody lighting and especially Justin Tormey's sound design hit the right notes. Yet Rozin hasn't found the "flash point" within many of the scenes. Among the actors, Michelle Courvais (Susan), David Whalen (Paul) and Brian Anthony Wilson (Thomas) are excellent. Unfortunately, Aly Mawji (Raj) is far too feckless and amiable to make Raj — really the crucial character of Homeland Security — spring to life.

HOMELAND SECURITY Through Nov. 21, InterAct Theatre Co. at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom St., 215-568-8079