‘Far Away’ Hits Close to Home

In the opening scene of Caryl Churchill’s “Far Away,” the lone sound of crickets amidst the darkness accentuates the tranquility of a quaint English countryside. Young Joan (Rebecca H. Kwan ’14), a small girl dressed in a white nightgown, lies in her bed, cradling her stuffed toy elephant in sweet vulnerability and innocence as her aunt Harper (Adriana I. Colón ’12) sits close by darning socks.

This setting seems the picture of suburban contentment. Yet, it is soon clear that the idyll is merely a façade for something far more sinister. Joan recounts a harrowing story of a nightmare turned real: cricket chirps morph into the discordant sound of a scream, her uncle is beating children till blood oozes from their heads, and the floor of the shed is steeped in blood that taints her feet. As she questions an increasingly flustered Harper, who barely pieces together a credible cover-up, the play sharply juxtaposes Joan’s purity with the gruesome horror. The opening scene effectively underscores the dystopian world of global warfare and mass killings created in “Far Away,” directed by Margaret C. Kerr ’13, which ran at the Loeb Experimental Theater from September 22 to 24. “Far Away” is a haunting vision of humanity and chaos portrayed with almost minimalist restraint, an artistic choice that allows the powerful, understated acting to take center stage.

The play follows Joan from childhood (Kwan) to young adulthood (Georgina B. Parfitt, ’13), when she has settled into a career making hats with another milliner, Todd (Yi Jun Tan ’13). A budding romance, a delightful combination of shy uncertainty and witty repartee that belies enduring tenderness, develops between them. The certainty of their love contrasts with the uncertain world in which they live. The audience is left with more questions than answers from their conversations. What are the “trials” that Todd and Joan discuss, as if they were normal television entertainment? Why is the hat industry riddled with corruption? What are the cryptic “parades” in which these outrageously ostentatious hats are used? As the play progresses, the pair’s ominous discussions emerge as harbingers of Hobbesian strife and genocide, revelations which parallel the collapse of the first scene’s pastoral beginning.

Though many mysteries are explained in the course of “Far Away”, the understated, sidelong approach to the play’s weighty subject matter remains. The conversations, while mostly short and charged with tension, convey the violence more effectively than any physical display. Tan powerfully conveys his frustrations with the hat factory, an emblem of society’s ills, through the furtive, surreptitious manner in which he speaks. He is a symbol of humanity’s aversion to injustice and desire for change, yet he—and the rest of the characters—fear being caught criticizing the government. The crisp dialogue thus betrays a fear of speaking up in a society where freedom of expression is harshly curtailed.

To the extent that violence is displayed, it is characterized by a uniform choreography that amplifies the systematic planning and intent behind it. As the prisoners march out in humiliation, the deathly precision of their movements against a backdrop of ominous thunder and flashing lights accentuates a sense of a twisted artistry. The set itself contributes to the bleak atmosphere by using continually changing lighting to resemble a turbulent landscape of dark rolling clouds. Untamed, primal nature serves as a metonym for the darkness that has engulfed society. The melodramatic staging facilitates the subtle, deft manner in which the script and actors confront the controversial subject of mass murder.

The actors carry the weight of such heavy material with practiced ease and confidence. In a poignant scene in which Joan is forced to view the carnage, Kwan’s face portrays an array of emotions stretching from disgust and horror to a numb vacancy. Similarly, Parfitt conveys a weariness of the soul which has seen too much in every heavy, laborious gesture. In the final act, both young and old Joan come together as Kwan and Parfitt harmoniously complete each other’s sentences. Amidst a senseless war where one is not even sure which side the animals are on, the two provide a momentary respite.

“Far Away” as a title suggests that this society is removed, a distant concept of dystopia that does not resonate. Yet the senseless violence and war does recall familiar examples of genocide, terrorism and wars that plague society today. The play evokes a reality too close for comfort.