Shallowness, pretention slay 'Homeland Security'

By CLARK GROOME

I knew less about the subject matter in Stuart Flack's Homeland Security after seeing it than I thought I knew going in.

With the title Homeland Security, the play at Philadelphia's edgy and socially-conscious InterAct Theatre is likely to deal with controversial issues. In this case, it seemed as if we were in for an excoriating profile of the Patriot Act and the suspension of some Constitutional guarantees that have caused so much controversy of late.

Well, that's what Homeland Security starts off being about, sort of. We first meet Raj (Aly Mawji) and Susan (Michelle Courvais) when they are being interrogated by a Justice Department agent (Brian Anthony Wilson) after returning to Chicago's O'Hare Airport from a trip to Raj's ancestral India.

The agent asks questions about what he was doing there. He tells them he is a doctor, was helping to set up vaccination programs for children. In the past, he has traveled extensively in that part of the world (to all the "Stans," Paki-, Afghani-, Kurdi-, etc.).

For some reason his name is on a list. Why, he isn't told. Nor, for that matter, are we. During the play's intermissionless  95 minutes, we learn precious little about these people. We learn that the divorced Susan has a contentious but ongoing relationship with her ex (David Whalen) because they share custody of their 10-year-old son. The relationship between Susan and Raj is six months old, seems at first to be solid, then becomes rocky when some of Raj's friends turn out to be mysterious.

There is less exposition and explanation in Homeland Security than in any play I've seen in a long time. While there are hints and glimpses of what's going on, the characters are so shallow and the dialogue so preachy and un-lifelike that at the end I had less idea what the issues were than when I entered the theater.

Fault for that goes primarily to the playwright. The InterAct production has been well directed by Seth Rozin and well acted by the four actors whose skill actually works against them. They are so good at making the rapid changes in their characters that the incredible nature of those changes is clearer than maybe the playwright would like.

Nick Embree's set helps matters, as do Margaret McCarty's costumes and Peter Whinnery's lighting. The problem is with the pretentiousness of the writing and the polemical shallowness of the characters. The result is that not only don't we know what's going on, but we really don't care.

For tickets to the InterAct Theatre Company's production of Homeland Security, playing through November 21 at the Adrienne, 2030 Sansom Street, call 215-568-8079 or visit www.interacttheatre.org.