Review-In The Continuum (1.28.06)

In The Continuum (Saturday, 1.28.06)
Perry Theatre, New York, NY

By: Danai Gurira, Nikkole Salter
Starring: Danai Gurira, Nikkole Salter

Two women discover they have AIDS. Though their circumstances couldn’t be more different, this one fact ties them together, and their stories inevitably interweave. The beauty of this phenomenal play – really a series of two intertwining monologues – is in how the each woman’s stories intersects with the other’s.

Strictly speaking, In the Continuum is not a play – it is really performance theatre, a combination of monologue, poem, one-character play, dance, and song. The story told here is about AIDS, but it is different from the story we’re used to hearing. This is the story of AIDS in Africa, and it is a story which needs to be told. But what is so compelling is the story is also about these two individual women – in telling a story that is universal and pervasive, this piece never veers into the general, and always sticks to what is most compelling – the stories of individuals.

Not enough can be said about the two marvelous playwrights and stars, Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter. Each has to play several characters while also interweaving their story with that of the other actor. This difficult piece requires tremendous timing, and these two have it. The flow is so seamless, that there could be one actor or a dozen on the stage. But here there are two, and they tell a remarkable story.

In the Continuum is remarkable. It is a deeply moving story that needs to be told. It has a message, a message about universality and the world’s identification with the struggle of the disease which afflicts so many and invades the corners of our so many lives. It is also the story of powerful resolve, and how the most powerful and good of human spirit lives on even as forces work to try and destroy it.