TWO ROOMS
Blessing stirs us with quiet monologues that make up the couple’s individual fantasies. Somewhere in Beirut, blindfolded and handcuffed, the hostage clings to his sanity by “writing” mental letters to his wife Lainie. “Talking” to her, Michael travels in his mind–backward to their first meeting and forward to the son they haven’t had. In Michael’s office at home (from which his wife has removed all his furniture and belongings, as if to re-create his prison), Lainie spends most of her time talking to him, as much to keep him alive in her thoughts as to will him to live until he can be freed. Their devotion to each other’s memory, Lainie explains, creates “a fortress, not a prison.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Through much of Two Rooms Blessing uses Ellen and Walker to lambaste the U.S. government. Fortunately, the play is more than finger pointing; it focuses on victims of an impossibly painful reality who create alternate realities in which they can survive.
