Absorbing and provocative dramatic work will further enhance the playwright’s
reputation (Review by Keith Millar)
Phobic is a new dramatic
work from the pen of playwright Janna
Ramos-Violante which debuted at the Hilton Arts Festival this year.
Following in the footsteps of Ramos-Violante’s previous two critically
acclaimed works, Mein Soldat and Callum’s Will, it deals with the subject
of unlikely relationships between out of the ordinary characters.
In Phobic, we meet Annie
(Jenna Dunster) a quirky and somewhat endearing young Irish girl. She has
travelled to South Africa in an attempt to find her long-lost father. While she
doesn’t find her father at address she has been given, she does encounter Oliver
(Glen Biederman), a young man who is seriously weighed down by phobias. Not
only is he agoraphobic but he is, as he reveals during the course of events,
scared of just about everything.
Oliver invites Annie in for a cup of coffee and slowly an improbable,
and dysfunctional, relationship starts to develop. At one point it even appears
as if there may be something romantic in the air.
But! Is everything really as it seems? Has Oliver revealed the true
depth of his phobias? What lengths would this damaged character go to induce
human contact? All is revealed in the surprise ending.
Phobic is an intense, dark
and somewhat slow-moving work. Dialogue is kept to a minimum, particularly from
Oliver who is positively uncommunicative. This leads to many awkward silences,
which highlights the difficult relationship developing between the two characters,
and certainly builds tension in the audience. There are moments of humour but it
is uncomfortable in nature. A little like laughing at someone’s disability.
Both Jenna Dunster and Glen Biederman put in solid performances. They
handle the many awkward silences well and succeed in using these moments to
build their perplexing characters. It is to their credit, and the writer’s that
these individuals don’t remain one-dimensional despite the paucity in dialogue.
Phobic is an absorbing and
provocative dramatic work which will further enhance Janna Ramos-Violante’s
reputation as a playwright. – Keith Millar
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