Anticipating one's own death or the death of a loved one is a heart-wrenching experience. In the Huntington Theatre Company's production of "Cry of the Reed," the detainment of Turkish-American journalist Sevgi (played by Lisa Birnbaum) by Iraqi insurgents makes death painfully imminent for the victim, her family and the audience.
Yet in the midst of a seemingly uncontrollable situation, Sevgi, her estranged boyfriend and her mother are forced to seize what little control they have in order to heal their personal wounds before reconciliation falls out of reach. Meanwhile, Sevgi urges her captors to take control of their own lives and free her from captivity.
"Cry of the Reed" is a turbulent and touching tale of the human struggle for life and love in the midst of an inevitable doom that threatens the human spirit. Birnbaum, a Tufts alum (LA '04), portrays a character that defies the desires of her paranoid boyfriend Josh (Sean Dugan) and the orders of her newspaper to revisit war-torn Iraq with her Canadian colleague Philip (Darren Pettie) and "tell the story of the Iraqi people." When they accept a ride from several masked men, Philip and Sevgi find themselves blindfolded and gagged. To prolong their lives, Sevgi lies and insists that she is a practicing Muslim.
Following his heart, Josh flees to Turkey to find Sevgi's mother Ayla (Cigdem Onat) in the hopes that she can convince Sevgi to return home. When Sevgi calls and tells them of her danger, Josh and Ayla launch an international effort to save her. In the end, she is granted freedom from her executioner Nabil (Rafi Silver) because of his growing love for her.
"Cry of the Reed" takes the audience through a suspenseful, emotional journey by showcasing the rocky relationship between Sevgi and her mother, Ayla. When she was sixteen, Sevgi's brother committed suicide, and Ayla returned to Turkey to build a peaceful, religious life. At the time of Sevgi's capture, the two had not spoken in 12 years.
But when Amir offers Sevgi to grant her freedom if she can make amends with her mother like a "good Muslim girl," Sevgi is forced to realize the urgency of her own situation. When she approaches the phone, Sevgi hesitates to lift the receiver, leaving the audience in nail-biting dismay as she denies that her circumstance is serious enough to engender action. When Sevgi's captors threaten her, she finally makes the call, realizing that her life, and subsequently the final status of her relationship with Ayla, is too important to risk.
Ayla's struggle to express her love is just as painfully intriguing for the audience as it is for her. Ayla realizes the severity of Sevgi's situation but feels powerless to save her. Once a leftist political activist, Ayla returned to her faith after realizing that she was helpless to prevent her son's suicide. After she agrees to broadcast a radio message pleading for Sevgi's life, Ayla uses notions of predestination and fate to avoid following through. Indeed, it is only through Josh's persuasion that Ayla realizes that by avoiding action, she is denying her love for her daughter in the direst of situations.
Despite Ayla's efforts, Sevgi's situation only worsens when Amir is replaced by a far more terrible and unforgiving captor. He promises her execution by morning and all but denies her last wish of bidding goodbye to her mother.
Sevgi and Ayla's final conversation is marked with intense grief. Standing miles away (but side-by-side onstage), Sevgi says goodbye to her mother in a conversation capable of moving anyone to tears. As Sevgi apologizes for years of unreturned letters and phone calls, Ayla visibly struggles to maintain composure but reassures her daughter that there should be "no regrets." The dialogue's climax comes when Ayla says, "Goodbye my beautiful girl," and Sevgi follows with a short, stammered farewell as the captors snatch the phone. In a moment of emotional suspense, the mother and daughter are briefly silent before erupting with wails of anguish.
Although the show may lend too much sympathy to the insurgent captors, Sevgi's resolving honesty transcends time and place. In extraordinary circumstances, the purity and endlessness of human love moves people to rebel in the face of danger.
