Goodman Theatre Presents DANA H Review

Though this dramatic scene and brain searing stagecraft (Paul Toben: Lighting and Supertitle Design; Mikhail Fiksel: Sound Design) comes toward the end of the play, it doesn’t strike this writer as much of a spoiler to spell it out. You know from the gitgo that this is the story of how the title character, a hospice chaplain and real-world mother of the playwright Lucas Hnath, was held hostage for many months. This play is a dramatic re-telling of the tale she lived to tell. Knowing this ending does not in any way interfere with you being riveted the entire 75 minutes.

Goodman Theatre Breaks The Mold with Lip Synching Experiment

Part of what makes this such gripping fare – at least for this writer-- is that you hear the story in Dana H.’s actual voice, with the actress Deirdre O’Connell lip synching all the while. It’s a break the mold approach to theater that in itself should make this a top pick for your time.

O’Connell animates the voice recounting her ordeal—and it is quite an ordeal---giving every sentence inflection the proper gesture, expression or perhaps even just a muscle tightening in response to the harrowing detail being shared. The term nuanced performance is much bandied about. This writer suggests that video clips of O’Connell could serve as the library definition of what such a performance looks like.

There is a specific warning for minors to be kept away from this content. It would be difficult to come up with a comparable list of trigger warnings for adults, as the list might be too long. Anyone who suffers nightmares from any life episode where they lost their agency should stay far, far, far away from this performance. If you aren’t in a fragile moment of life though, make this your top pick.