Cassie has decided to hide out in her basement from the growing right-wing unrest in the American city where she lives in Christine Rose’s topical political thriller Sanctuary directed by Donna King.
Not wanting to be alone during such tense times, she has invited her childhood friend Amelia to join her in the basement.
Initially, they reminisce about schooldays and even dance together, but soon their political differences generate friction. Cassie (Laura Shipler Chico) is horrified by the rise of the far-right, whom she refers to as fascists. Amelia (Andrea Milton-Furlotti) in contrast quotes George Bush and is okay with her husband and son being members of the Patriot Boys.
Meanwhile, we hear lads on the streets shouting and sometimes letting off fireworks and perhaps firing guns.
As Cassie drinks more alcohol, she becomes less careful in expressing her anger at oppressive, abusive males. She even points to Amelia’s former partners as examples of bad behaviour.
Increasingly irritated by Cassie's conversation, Amelia takes a defensive line on male abuse, claiming for example that “groping isn’t a form of sexual assault."
The actors give fine, confident performances but the characters they play lack depth and there is very little dramatic tension to pull us into the play.
The growing popularity of the far right one social commentator has likened to the 1930s in slow motion is worrying, but its depiction in this play is mere political costume colouration. The sounds of a bunch of noisy lads wandering the streets and sexually assaulting women tell us nothing about why more people are turning to the far right.