You know your brain is going to be in for a serious workout when the first line, addressed to the audience by a young actor on a blackened stage with a spotlight focused on him, is: “This is a story within a story, about a person within a person, in a time within a time.” For the next hour and 20 minutes you will feel you’re in Nietzsche world where truth is an illusion and illusion is truth as Rajiv Joseph’s Dakar 2000 unfold’s in a world premiere at NY City Center Stage !.
Commissioned by Manhattan Theatre Club and directed with precision by May Adrales, the two-hander stars Abubakr Ali and Mia Barron in award nomination worthy performances playing people who delight in telling dramatic stories only to then laugh and say they are just kidding. But as the fast-moving plot unfolds we wonder, Are they kidding or did that happen?”
What we know (or think we know) is that a 25-year-old American Peace Corp volunteer named Boub, pronounced like the slang word for breasts and short for Boubacar, becomes forced into a sinister public service mission to poison a suspected terrorist by Dina, a crisp 46-year-old State Department operative in Senegal on the eve of Y2K. Dina believes, or says she believes, he is the man behind the 1998 bombing of the United States embassy in Tanzania that may or may not have killed “the love of my life.”
Tim Mackabee’s turntable, minimalist set and Alan C. Edwards’ broodingly dark lighting create an atmosphere perfect for a political thriller. As I was walking away from the theatre I heard audience members trying to figure it all out — “Did he . . .” “Was she . . .” as we walked along West 55th Street.
Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which I hated, was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama. He served in the Peace Corp in Senegal for three years, which gives his current play authenticity.
