BWW Reiews: THE OTHER PLACE Offers Intriguing and Compassionate Insight into Dementia

Portland's Good Theater's fourth play of the season is the Maine premiere of Sharr White's The Other Place, a compelling and compassionate exploration of trauma, illusion, and dementia. Directed with quiet, yet hair-raising intensity by Brian P. Allen and starring the remarkable Denise Poirier, the production keeps the audience invested and involved from start to finish.

With so much written and dramatized about Alzheimer's disease these days, White's play distinguishes itself in the non-linear way he chooses to tell the story of Juliana and Ian, whose tragic loss of their daughter is but the first trauma in Juliana's unraveling mental state. The script dips in and out of Juliana's present reality which is laced with hallucination and places these episodes in counterpoint with the truths with which Ian also grapples. The transitions are subtle, and the revelations gradually build to a climax which shares the complete truth with the audience. Grippingly and tautly plotted with incisive dialogue and a central character capable of engaging our sympathy, The Other Place presents a complex and riveting psychological journey.

Allen uses a deft touch with the drama, choosing to play the eighty minutes as one, steadily building, uninterrupted act. He paces perfectly, starting slowly and tightening and quickening as the drama advances. And he elicits from his principals a wealth of nuance and credible interiority.

In the pivotal role of Juliana, Denise Poirier is nothing short of wondrous! Portland enjoyed this amazing actress' delicious portrayal of Kathryn Cornell in The Grand Manner last season, and now discovers her ability to shade a much subtler character such as this afflicted wife and mother. If Poirier were a singer, one would speak of faultless pitch and brilliant dynamics, and, indeed, as an actress she captures these qualities with a poetic perfection. Her emotional range is at once dazzling and restrained. She retains an air of mystery almost to the end, and there is luminosity to her performance. James Noel Hoban makes a sensitive foil as her troubled, yet caring husband Ian, who struggles to maintain his self-control and maritalcommitment. The Man and The Woman, two additional characters with multiple identities played respectively by Jody McColman and Kat Moraros, are dramatic plot devices, but are here each handled with thoughtful aplomb. Moraros is particularly affecting as the young woman in the last scene who intuits Juliana's mental state and offers her some kindness and comfort.

Craig Robinson's simple unit set (created with assistance by scenic artist Cheryl Dolan) tastefully serves the several locales of the play, transforming itself attractively into the Cape Cod house where the trauma began and where the play ends, while William Cusik's final video, which explains an image from the first scene, adds a haunting coda. Iain Odlin's lighting takes the audience seamlessly through the play's transitions, while Steve Underwood's sound design provides an elusive context of memory.

The Other Place invites its audience to share a sometimes heartbreaking, always poignant journey and to emerge uplifted by the catharsis.

The Other Place runs from March 4-29, 2015 at The Good Theater, 76 Congress Street, Portland, ME 207-885-5883 www.goodtheater.com

Photos Courtesy Good Theater, Steve Underwood, photographer

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