Dakar 2000 Off-Broadway Reviews

Instead of capitalizing on that loaded context, though, the play gradually deflates, unable to maximize its own premise and hampered by possibly self-serving moves — a raised eyebrow is the only possible reaction to the improbable notion that Boubs could manipulate the worldlier, more experienced Dina into getting what he needs.

Yet Dakar 2000 doesn’t accelerate from there. Joseph works additively, tacking on new ideas about Dina and Boubs’s dynamic, then explores them incompletely. Dina’s backstory, for instance, involves the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Tanzania in 1998. She’s become obsessed with the threat of Islamic terror and her own quest for revenge. But because Joseph has placed his drama at such a specific historical spot — a year before 9/11 — it’s as if it’s hermetically sealed. He can only hint at how Dina’s perspective would soon become the standard posture of American diplomacy.

Dakar 2000’s plot, however, is gripping enough to make up for any shortcomings in character development. The script’s revelations trickle down in spurts before converging in an all-out flood of manipulation. 'You can’t like someone AND manipulate them!' Boubs screeches at one point, heartbroken to think he was just a pawn in Dina’s game. 'Yes, you can,' Dina insists. Joseph’s exploration of the cost of trying to be a good person reminds us no character is simply a hero or a villain.

What we will reveal: Ali and Barron have terrific chemistry (don’t be surprised if you find yourself cheering for them to kiss on the roof!); and director May Adrales stages a genuine jump-in-your-seat moment, aided by Alan C. Edwards’ unnerving lighting design, that you’ll be thinking about for days.