Candles, mirrors and lanterns fill the interior of artist Helen Martins’ house in a remote village in South Africa, where Athol Fugard’s “The Road to Mecca” takes place. The set is crucial in this play, because its shadows and light create a visual allusion to one of Fugard’s central themes: The relation between darkness and illumination, the playwright’s poetic shorthand for doubt and faith, not in religion but in oneself.
The set is also important because this unconventional living room reflects its eccentric owner, and the issue of an extraordinary individual shunned by conventional society is another of Fugard’s themes. Helen Martins (Tana Hicken) is nearing 70. She is accepted only by her minister, Marius (Martin Rayner) and a young teacher, Elsa (Holly Twyford).
The play begins when the dynamic Elsa arrives, having driven hundreds of miles after receiving a distressing letter from the artist. The first act illustrates the bonds between the women, highlighting Elsa’s concern about being alone and Helen’s fear of aging and losing her creative abilities.
Twyford is exceptional as the animated Elsa, who rips into Helen’s quiet haven like a tornado. Whether listening and reacting to Helen’s worries or explaining her own problems, Twyford captures the essence of Fugard’s passionate, rebellious idealist.
Although Hickens eventually reveals Helen’s complicated nature, director Joy Zinoman begins the play oddly, giving Helen far more nervous energy than called for in the script. The hyperactivity seems out of character in this accomplished woman and it diminishes the effect of Helen’s later emotional crescendo. Zinoman also reduces the minister’s complexity: Rayner portrays the polished surface of Marius well, but never fully communicates the love he feels for Helen.
Michael Giannitti’s lighting design is muted and effective, but Debra Booth’s set is a rather pedestrian collection of candles and mirrors, not the extraordinary, almost otherworldly concoction Fugard undoubtedly imagined.
Yet even though this Studio production doesn’t capitalize on everything that the script provides, the playwright’s poetry shines through. Fugard has written many plays about friendship, survival, trust and ostracism. “The Road to Mecca” is one of his best.
(If you go: “The Road to Mecca” through Oct. 12; The Studio Theatre; 1501 14th St. NW; 8 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; $34 to $61, discounts available; 202-332-3300; www.studiotheatre.org)
