C. Ryanne Domingues presents Athol Fugard's 'Playland'

Domingues cofounded Simpatico Theatre and served as its producing artistic director. She staged Playland at her old company's new home, the Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake. Fugard's 1993 two-man drama, set on New Year's Eve 1989, when apartheid was still South Africa's policy, was chosen for its relevance to American society today.

No walk in the park

Playland occurs in a quiet corner of a shabby amusement park, where Martinus (Richard Bradford), a black handyman and watchman -- "Day and night, I don't sleep," he says -- tries to read his Bible, but Gideon (Mark Cairns), a white veteran of the South African Border War, interrupts. Gideon's already half in the bag, seeking some New Year's Eve fun and romance: "That's my New Year's resolution," he explains. "I'm going to get things going again."

Gideon finds little amusement or love, however, because his new acquaintance brings out raw battle stories he can't hold back. "They come to play because they want to forget," says Martinus about the park's patrons, but he's unable to bury memories either. Both remain haunted by unforgettable images of committing "number six" -- the sixth commandment, the one about killing. New Year's Eve, of course, is a time for both looking back and looking forward.

Auld Lang Syne

Domingues stages Playland in a tight square pen filled with gravel, with audience on two adjacent sides. Arnel Sancianco's ingeniously simple set provides enough room for two men to spar intensely and intimately, verbally and physically. Bradford and Cairns scrap well (with convincing accents, coached by Matthew Hultgren), revealing a simmering frustration fueled by guilt. As Gideon says, "The whole world is you and me." The small box containing these two men is, for them, the world. Will they survive it?

The New Year's Eve fireworks (lighting by Daniel Schreckengost, sound by Joshua Boden) match the explosive secrets revealed by these anguished men. Domingues drives the action forward relentlessly in Fugard’s 90-minute drama, yet also respects the necessary silences as each man wrestles with his conscience. Playland isn't an easy play to watch, though Domingues finds its moments of humor and tenderness, but it's a meaningful process that rewards the viewer.

Are acceptance, forgiveness, and respect possible today between people separated by seemingly impossible differences, whether of race, gender, or political party? Let's hope so.