Charon
Reviewed by Dan Otis Smith
The vibe is elegiac.
What happens to us when we die? Charon offers one answer to this most enduring unanswerable. But as might be expected from a play written by and for the living, this answer is really a vehicle for pondering what death might tell us about life.
Jessica Konkle, playing the recently deceased Daphne, effectively depicts the five stages of grief as experienced in relation to her own death. Ali Farhadi, as the titular Charon, plays a sort of “straight man” in the face of Daphne’s ranting, raving, pleading, and stamping of feet.
Despite the subject matter, Charon is not a downer, and the two performers make for an endearing comic team. Levity, innocence, and humour infuse the performance from its first moments.
Still, the show brings some heavy emotional weight, exploring the regrets, resentments, and enduring grief of a young woman looking back at life from beyond the urn. It might resonate with anyone who has lost a loved one, wondered what could have been, or questioned their parents’ love. It may also interest students of philosophy, religion, and the classics, regardless of personal experience.
Event Details
Age Suitability: Parental Guidance (ages 13+)
Genre: Theatre—Drama
Run Time: 60 mins
Venue: The Gasworks
Playwright / Director
Jake Hunter
Performer
Ali Farhadi
Performer
Jessica Konkle
Warnings
Coarse Language, Violence