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Edinburgh Festivals Fringe 2001 |
Narcissi Munira Mirza |
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A confused and overly complicated play that attempts to grapple many issues at once, satisfying none entirely. Self-loving Dimitri is so enthralled with his own image that he is unable to conduct a fulfilling relationship with his girlfriend Amy. As a result, she has an affair with his friend, the harmlessly lukewarm Louis. Dimitri, oblivious to his girlfriend's antics, sleeps around, acquires a pathetic gay stalker and eventually satisfies his narcissistic dream by creating a clone of himself, Mark. His girlfriend, Amy, is at first none too happy with the double image. It is bad enough having the original Dimitri to cope with, never mind another. But soon they are all three in bed together, rolling around with the excitement of making love to two you love, with one of them being yourself. However, the relationships become destructive and self-love has tragic repercussions. The central message of the play seems unclear and in the programme, we are told that the dangers of self-love are even more apparent in light of the recent advances in human cloning. Whilst it is made evident in the play that self-love is destructive (that at least seems to be an uncomplicated point) you are also left with the idea that individualism and pride are also sins. Dimitri, for all his faults, at least has some sense of his own worth, unlike everybody else in the play. The characters are not fully developed nor is the dialogue engaging, so it is no surprise that the acting becomes weak at times. The use of the Greek chorus is brave but can become somewhat irritating as it dances to the Spice Girls and describes the London setting with little poetic ingenuity. To give the writer some credit, this play has much potential and the narcissus myth does have much to offer modern audiences today. The play ambitiously tackles difficult concepts of identity and self-obsession. However, more work needs to be done to transform this idea into a fulfilling drama. Augustine's
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