Glacially Induced Love
“The Ice Breaker” at New Repertory Theatre
By RICHARD CAMPBELL
Special to The Epoch Times
When does a lifetime of searching provide answers? Why are we destined to meet certain people? Are we really in love with someone if we love their accomplishments and ideas but cannot accept their faults? What difference does it make if scientists are right about global warming? All these questions and more are answered for two characters in the powerful, whimsical work “The Ice Breakers,” at The New Repertory Theatre.
Playwright David Rambo, of “CSI” fame has taken what could have been a trite elder bristly academic meets beautiful post-doc student scenario and turned it into a soulful meditation on what it means to be loved in the context of scientific discovery.
I was a little worried that this play would be Al Gore meets “The Big Chill” but the script of “Ice Breaker” is delightfully quixotic. With clever and unique arguments bolstered by the carefully crafted staging of director David Zoffoli, our disbelief is suspended just long enough for the actors to grab our hearts, and pull us into glacially induced love.
In a brief introduction we see Sonia, portrayed with wonderment by Amy Russ, on the frozen glaciers of Antarctica reading the lonely words of an explorer from a diary. After this scene, we are taken to the Arizona desert home of the author of this diary, who has, (unbeknownst to him), been Sonia’s sole inspiration in her studies of global warming patterns, and enigmas of life.
Professor Lawrence, played by Will Lyman, is suitably cool and baffled by this set of circumstances, as he has been out of the geo-climatology business for so long that the only ice formation he is vaguely aware of is the massive frost build-up in his old refrigerator. Sonia has made a rather long trek through the desert to see him, arriving unannounced in a lime green tank top and cute little blue shorts, bearing her knapsack of hope.
Her adolescently charged stream of consciousness has him so confused it’s all he can do to hide the wine bottles that declare his lonely state, and feign interest until he can brush her off. It is almost the typical student chases romantic professor into the bedroom scene, but the two cast members play each moment with such uncalculated freshness that one doesn’t mind the familiar journey.
Sonia comically reveals her intention for him to read her doctoral thesis, and pulling out a giant book thousands of pages long, she exclaims that he is her heroæ“kinda,” that is. She also lets him know his diary, left on the frozen tundra in Greenland, is what has brought her to his door. She hopes returning the item will persuade him to offer some badly needed research assistance.
What follows, of course, are revelations of love and broken hearts. The clashing chemistry between these two very different characters predictably leads to wine, sex, and leftover turkey hot dogs while sharing a blanket on the desert patio. The strength of this production is that both actors command our attention in unique ways.
Will Lyman’s Lawrence comes to a climatically controlled crisis once revelations beginæhis voice moving from self-assured obliviousness to painful self-hatred and despair. Amy Russ flings herself around him, like a loving atomic moth, her radiance feeding emotional swings reminiscent of college youth searching for meaning, at once exhibiting unbound desires and crushing disappointmentsærevealing just enough pluck to dust herself off after setbacks. The controlled collusion finds a suitable climax and leaves the audience with gems of wisdom about the limitations of knowing.
The production values for this show are spectacular. Lawrence’s adobe house, designed by architect Alan Joslin, is framed with a dramatic timber skylight that reaches out to the mercurial dessert sky beyond his stone-walled patio-mapping out an atmosphere where outside nature seems to always influence the interior world. The lighting and special effects by Dennis Parichy border on perfection. Lightning Storms and deep desert skies believably leave the audience in awestruck enchantment. All these production touches contribute to the feeling that though precious times with others may bear a stamp of sorrow, we may transcend pain and find forgiveness, knowing our world is not forever.
“The Ice Breaker” runs until November 19 at the New Repertory Theatre.
Richard Campbell is a playwright from Boston Massachusetts, you may view writings and graphics by him at http://home.earthlink.net/~photocafe.
