Review: SIDE-WALKS at Solas Nua

For those of us of a certain age, we well remember the classic Friends scene of Joey and Chandler trying to navigate a fold out map of London. Clearly confused by the grid of streets and pop-up representations of landmarks, Joey sets it on the ground outside their hotel and emphatically states, "I'm gonna have to go into the map". Now, before you get too upset that I've started a theatre review by referencing an American sitcom, please keep reading.

Solas Nua's latest digital production, Side-Walks, indeed brings us "into the map", in an interactive and immersive way that the late 1990s could never have dreamed of. Written by Jeremy Keith Hunter, a DC-based multidisciplinary artist, and John King, a theatre-maker from Dublin, Side-Walks is a "visual short story about finding yourself after a year of isolation" and is the culmination of a pandemic-long collaboration between the two playwrights and Solas Nua. "This was a unique way to have a long-form conversation with the same collaborators, incubating virtual stories together during this unprecedented time," explains Artistic Director Rex Daugherty, describing the collaboration as a "mini-company" of resident artists.

Hunter and King's writing is lyrical, melodic, even hypnotizing at times. It weaves the stories of

Connor, performed by Cormac Elliott, and Jermal, performed by Da'Von T. Moody, as their paths intersect and diverge, like the great waves of the Atlantic Ocean that they both traverse, in Washington, DC and Dublin, Ireland. Their words are a meditation on place, purpose, and people. The places we take for granted and the people who flitt in and out of our lives as we desperately search for some meaning to it all. Elliott and Moody deliver performances that are, by turns, forceful and melancholic, full of the exuberance of youth and the weariness of constantly seeking your place in an unwelcoming world.

Accompanied by Daugherty's original compositions, this symphony of spoken word is brought to amazing technicolor life by Patrick W. Lord's design. Using Google Maps, including street views and historic photographs, Lord creates a canvas of color and light that elevates these oft-times utilitarian tools to become the third actor in our story. The shadowy silhouettes used in several scenes evoke the ghosts that haunt us - be they people or places. Indeed, the production gives renewed life to two lost venues: DC Eagle and Dublin's The Dragon. These two clubs were more than buildings, more than performance venues, they were communities, providing a haven against an often hostile outside world.

But Side-Walks is not just about finding our home, it is about finding ourselves, and, sometimes, in order to do that, we have to leave our familiar places. Both Jermal and Connor experience a feeling of displacement - geographically, culturally, and familially - of being the foreigner even amongst those we are closest to. Connor eloquently phrases this toward the end of the piece by saying, "everything looks familiar...everything feels different". As we transition into a new phase of the pandemic, which will have many of us emerging back into public life to one degree or another, I believe we can all agree with that sentiment.

Side-Walks is streaming on-demand through August 22, 2021. Run time is approximately 30 minutes. Captioning is available. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit solasnua.org.

Cast

Connor Cormac Elliott

Jermal Da'Von T. Moody

Creative Team

Playwright Jeremy Keith Hunter

Playwright John King

Designer Patrick W. Lord

Producer/Director/Composer Rex Daugherty

Additional Design Nitsan Scraf and Mekala Sridha

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