Christina Tannous & Zaynna Khalife in Karma | Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann
I appreciate the essence of playwright Aksam Alyousef’s poetic melodrama Karma, presented in its world premiere by Pleiades Theatre, recognize the heartfelt belief he has in the story’s emotive potency and understand the complex humanity he’s trying to wrestle with; the actual writing, however, is clunky and cloying. Intent has inherent value, but this type of hard-hitting theatre requires an alignment of that intent with nuanced and solid execution. This falters significantly on the page and in performance. Continue Reading