Adam is a very relevant story and has an important message that truly belongs on the stage.
The play starts with the image of a woman cutting into her breast – a powerful symbolic gesture which hints towards the expressionist style the play is performed in. The stage is empty but underneath it there are severed mannequins lit up by blue light. The production is very expressionistic in style, utilising poetic prose and stark lighting. A video projection accompanies many parts of the show and the image of the father is always looming over the subject matter. Adam’s journey is both painful and dangerous. As much as he wants to find a place to belong to, due to legal bureaucracy it proves difficult. The story is well acted and very thought out. Almost too thought out. For a story this intimate the huge production value proves almost grotesque in comparison. His personal journey reaches out to the audience and beyond it almost like it’s trying to force catharsis.
Accompanying Adam on the stage is Neshla Caplan who also plays Adam, providing beautiful duality and balance on the stage. Witnessing Caplan undergo Adam’s journey from woman to man provides stunning visual relation to the story. Both Adam and Neshla take on various other roles throughout the performance such as Adam’s mother and his former boss.
Adam is a very relevant story and has an important message that truly belongs on the stage. That being said in this particular production the message tended to get lost due to the immensity of the production. It had it’s touching moments though, particularly in the part of the production that discusses Adam’s job in a department store.
