[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Jaqueline Goldfinger’s “The Arsonist” at The Complex.
Jaqueline Goldfinger’s “The Arsonist” is a strange and moving drama about a daughter and father arsonist-for-hire team. The story begins after a job goes awry and the daughter, M, returns to her family home, escaping the pursuing police and dragging the remains of her beloved father stuffed in a sack behind her.
It’s a pretty gruesome beginning to a story about love. But then these two are hardly a traditional couple. As the ghost of her father returns to her, imploring her to help him move on, we begin to understand these otherworldly and deep-set relationships built on the margins of society, fashioned by the many layers of criminal generational traditions and trust that can only develop within a family outside of what would be considered ‘normal.’ Inside the more relatable dynamic of the love between a father and a doting daughter, the peculiar and the alien of their particular situation actually strengthens the bonds. In this case, to the point of transcendental.
When all you have is the people beside you and your life is built around the deep and sacred trust of the criminal world, then what would you do to keep it safe? As M grapples with the reality of her circumstance and the fading presence of the ghost of her charismatic and beguiling father, she becomes more human than we might ever expect her to be, given her chosen profession. She opens like a sad and fragile flower, showing us the depth of her love and the tragedy of her loss.
“The Arsonist” is a beautiful play. Set in an unusual world, with two characters as far from my reality as they could be, and yet so surprisingly familiar. The connection. The love. The abject horror of losing someone so central to one’s life.
The unfiltered ache of death and the desperation of being now so suddenly alone. All of these feelings are familiar to anyone who has lost someone dear and it was not without irony to me that this play was produced at the wonderful Complex Theatre in Hollywood. An effort to save The Complex from the deadly hand of development is underway, but this might well have been the very last play I see there.
Every second of this gorgeous production had been considered. The set purposefully rickety and so simple and perfect, and the casting of the father and daughter utterly brilliant.
Megan Raitano plays the daughter as tough and resourceful, devastated and in shock, her stages of grief compressed into mere hours as she fights every urge within her to keep her father close. Allan Whitehead is wonderful as the father. Funny, affectionate, beaming with pride as he fades away…heartbreakingly. Both actors reached the nirvana of total believability and in this small theatre, packed with a profoundly moved audience completely captivated by the performances, magic was made.
I’m sorry this was only running for three nights. I would highly recommend it to anyone, let’s hope they put this back up sometime soon.
“The Arsonist” really was an excellent achievement in theatre. Bravo!!!
The Cast:
Megan Raitino
Allan Whitehead
The Team:
Produced by Kat Kemmet
Directed by Ben Wendel
Art Direction by Matt Whitehead
Sound Design by Mia Glenn- Schuster