Issue date: 11/10/09 Section: Arts and Culture

Sonja Smits as Martha and Kristopher Turner as Henry share mother-son moment Photo: Gustav Kravis

Nightwood Theatre, celebrating and encouraging women's art, brings together a compelling and intriguing dark comedy: That Face. Directed by Kelly Thornton and written by nineteen-year-old Polly Stenham, "That Face" deconstructs our sense of self, notions of love and forgiveness, and the seemingly rigid boundaries of responsibility. Relying on a multitude of talented actors, Polly Stenham's production, which snapped up the Evening Standard's 2007 Wintour Award, materializes the complex ambivalent emotions we constantly carry around with us in our everyday interactions.

That Face is about an alcoholic mother, Martha, (played by Sonja Smits) and the struggles the family members go through as they try to walk the fine line between the love and hate they feel for one another. The play explores the mirage of a coherent self, constantly pieced together along the years. While trying to maintain that mirage, Mia (played by Bethany Jillard) and Henry (Kristopher Turner) internalize some of the responsibility for their mother's alcoholism and depression and diverge on two opposite routes. As they each deal with the dissolution of their family, they come to grips with the painful fact that they are not only losing their mother, but that they are also losing themselves.

The quality of the lighting of That Face is very impressive. While a well-lit scene is in progress, one cannot see that an approaching scene is being prepared for in the dark.

Thornton adds a very vivid, moving, film-like quality to the play. It is especially apparent in the silent scenes where the characters engage with their surroundings as they mark the passage of time. These moments allow the audience to absorb the intense emotions being displayed. It is also a very clever way of moving around the furniture to a rhythm mirroring the characters' psyche and internal state of mind. The choice of music is one to be applauded.

Smits' performance brings the role of Martha to life with ambivalence, making the audience hate her, pity her, get confused by her - all at once Smits' performance truly does the role justice. It is no surprise she has been awarded a Gemini Award for Best Actress for her performance in Street Legal. Despite his somewhat heightened emotions at the beginning, Kristopher Turner, as Henry, reclaims his stage persona in the final scene where he vividly brings to life the moment of threshold between sanity and insanity as one takes off one's mask and dives into one's darkest corners.

That Face is guaranteed to engage your emotions along with your analytic side. On until November 21, That Face is playing at Berkley Theatre. Be sure to watch this intriguing take on love and its complicated relationship with reason.

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