Theatre Review: Is This A Room? Arrests The Messenger
We are living in really dark times, and my worst fear is that we do not realize the urgency and weight of it. Some do, and are willing to sacrifice their life, figuratively and literally, to make sure our eyes open so that our lives do not end. Reality Winner’s story has, in many ways, been painted as the latter, but, at Vineyard Theater, Tina Satter’s Is This A Room? reminds audiences of the dual simplicity and intensity of her situation. She was somebody that reported something wrong had happened, Russia’s interception of the 2016 election, to a website, The Intercept, and winded up getting more then 5 years of prison.
Personally, every time someone says “Based On True Events” my heart palpitates with anxiety. i have yet to see a “true story adaptation” that gets a happy ending or does not pull you through emotional hell to get there. Unfortunately, Is This A Room? embodies this truth. Emily Davis pulls my heart strings by giving a performance that is sensitive, effortless, and distinguishably isolating. Davis brings a humanity to Reality Winner, whom is an important whistleblower that has, seemingly, fallen through the cracks of media notice. For all that we discuss Trump’s alliance with Russia and his hope to garner further international intervention in U.S. elections, Reality Winner’s name is never mentioned. in the narrative, as the first warning. Yet, once you see how her arrest goes down, then you might understand why?
IS THIS A ROOM, Reality Winner’s FBI Interrogation word-for-word
There is a Romeo & Juliet, “star-crossed” factor that goes into tatter’s direction of the real interactions between Reality Winner and Agent Garrick (Pete Simpson), Agent Taylor (TL Thompson) and (Becca Blackwell) as a nameless colleague. They perform the interrogation “word for word,” which ignites your feeling of inevitable doom. Each actor swirls around Davis’ Reality Winner with a casual bravado that puts viewers on edge. Beneath every nicety, like gym-talk or assuring Realty Winner’s rescue pets will be fine, is a sword of stress and the feeling that this is a setup. With her Miranda rights never read and her continued assurance that she is not a “Snowden,” audience members can’t stop feeling like any kindness is fake and plotted to take her in.
The easiness from which Reality Winner’s normal life is cut is absolutely terrifying, especially because her crime is, technically, that she reported a crime. She is locked in jail, not for disrupting our elections, but for saying they were disrupted. What is so heartbreaking is that Davis makes SURE the audience realizes Reality Winner really didn’t think of herself as “whistleblower” or grand, political revolutionary. She comes home, from grocery shopping, to find federal agents scoping her house to interchange small talk with accusations. With a spotlight on Davis’ Winner and Parker Lutz’s minimal set, you feel like you are in Reality Winner’s home, and you are devastated at seeing her lose it. By all means, her life will never be what it was, and Davis emotes this young woman’s quiet realization that she is entering a traumatizing, new life chapter. Is This A Room Plays Until November 10 at Vineyard Theatre. Click Here to Buy Tickets.
