LOST VOICES written and directed by Ed Roy (Topological Theatre/Theatre Centre, 1087 Queen West). Runs to April 17. Pwyc-$20. 416-538-0988. See listing. Rating: NNN
In Lost Voices, playwright/director Ed Roy sheds compassionate light on the situation of unaccompanied children sent from Third World countries to the West for reasons ranging from war to child trafficking.
He’s less successful, though, exploring the pressured lives of government officials trying to aid these kids.
Two teens, Nabeela (Sarena Parmar) and Wakeed (Owais Lightwala), arrive at Pearson Airport to be met by a barrage of harshly voiced questions from invisible authority figures. Shy and fearful, they’re placed in the hands of a pair of social workers, newbie Phil (Shaun McComb) and experienced Terri (Soo Garay).
Roy’s script gives depth to the teens’ tales in one back story, a family attempts to save their child, in the other, the motivation is rejection. Lightwala and Parmar draw believable portraits in both the dialogue and the expressive movement episodes.
But having the tough Terri constantly remind the nervous Phil of what he’s supposed to do is a forced narrative device. One result is that, in the early scenes, Phil comes across as a two-dimensional, comic bungler. McComb’s much better as various people in the teens’ lives in their home countries. Garay’s fine in those secondary roles, too, while she also gives Terri a stress-related edge, the reason for that stress revealed in the final scene.
