Review: SAMSARA at Profile Theatre

Lauren Yee’s SAMSARA, currently running at Profile Theatre, delivers a theatrical experience that's simultaneously fantastical and painfully real. This play uses international surrogacy as a springboard for a kaleidoscopic examination of privilege, parenthood, and modern colonialism. Masterfully co-directed by Jamie M. Rea and Ajai Tripathi, SAMSARA is a must-see.

American couple Katie (played by Jerilyn Armstrong) and Craig (Benjamin Tissell) are expecting a baby via a surrogate in India. But when Craig makes the (solo) journey to meet their surrogate Suraiya (Veda Baldota) a month before the due date, Yee's play explodes into a brilliant meditation on identity and power dynamics, punctuated by surreal interludes featuring an oddly intrusive Frenchman (Jonathan Cullen) and a sassy fetus (Abrar Haque).

Even in this early play, Yee demonstrates why she's become one of today’s most vital playwrights. Her unflinching examination of white American fantasies about the Global South is both hilarious and devastating, the wit serving as a gateway to deeper, more uncomfortable truths. This production's highly theatrical elements – enhanced by Kelly Terry's evocative lighting design – serve to heighten the emotional impact of the play's reality.

The small ensemble is excellent across the board. As the prospective parents, Armstrong and Tissel navigate their characters' well-intentioned but often blindly privileged perspectives with nuance and sensitivity. Baldota delivers a fierce and forthright performance as Suraiya – every scene she inhabits crackles with tension and truth. Cullen is perfect as the delightfully bizarre Frenchman, while Haque is endearing as Amit, the fetus, who is somehow the most grounded of them all.

SAMSARA will make you laugh, cringe, and think about its implications long after you leave the theatre. If you like challenging, conversation-starting theatre, this show is absolutely not to be missed.

SAMSARA is performed at Artists Repertory Theatre through Feb. 9. Details and tickets here.

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