Review: Echo Theatre Company Presents ANOTHER HOME INVASION

Joan MacLeod's play, Another Home Invasion, is a cautionary tale, and while the setting may be Canada, the message is one that will resonate with anyone who has aging parents that are living on their own. This short work, which runs about 70 minutes, focuses our attention on the survivor of a home invasion, letting us see how letting your guard down, even for an instant, can lead to unexpected and terrifying consequences. Echo Theatre Company continue their 2010-2011 season with a simply mounted production of this informative work that's nicely conceived and executed.

Jean is an aging senior, living alone with her deteriorating husband, who's anxiously awaiting the opportunity to move from the first home they bought together into some sort of sponsored housing. There's a lot of business here related to the vagaries of the Canadian government and the way that seniors are treated, and it may well act as a deterrent for those who think their particular healthcare and welfare systems are superior to our own. But the story really starts to engage when Jean begins to explain how she first encountered the man who would later invade her home. A brief incident during the daytime sets up a later, more disturbing entry in the middle of the night, that changes their lives together forever.

Donna Weinsting does very good work as Jean, giving us a captivating presence to watch as the story unfolds, and she explains the circumstances involved that led her to leave her door unlocked on that fateful evening. Weinsting makes it easy for us to identify with the character as she conveys the various fears and concerns that shape her everyday living. It's an unsettling portrait of what seniors face, and one that will act to make people more aware of the issues that they deal with, issues that may well become their own one day.

Eric Little's sensitive direction is focused and assured, and even though there's very little movement here, what there is becomes that much more dramatic by its paucity. Little's set is simple and direct, with a single chair placed on a rug for the lead character to perch from, and that acts to prevent our attention from wandering. Maureen Hanratty's lighting brings out the drama of the piece by dimming slowly at key moments.

Echo Theatre Company's thoughtful production of the United States' premiere of Another Home Invasion brings issues to the forefront that need to be understood and addressed, and it continues through October 24, 2010 in the ArtSpace at Crestwood Plaza.

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