Karma, by Aksam Alyousef, is the latest in what seems to be a genre of plays about second generation Canadians or people who came to Canada at a very young age needing to return to their ancestral homeland to discover/resolve some mystery.  See, for. example, The Green Line at Buddies last year.

In Karma, Adeeb (Andrew Iles) came to Canada as a baby with his Syrian mother following the death of his Canadian father during the 1982 government campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood.  It’s now 2012 and war is raging again; the ISIS insurrection this time.  Since early childhood Adeeb has been haunted by the idea that in an earlier life he was somehow mixed up in events in Syria.  He decides to travel to Syria to investigate.  He falls into the hands of the Syrian security forces and is rescued by his uncle who clearly has clout and who takes him to their village.  His mother flies from Canada to persuade him to return home.  Of course, everyone thinks his story is crazy but he persists.  And from there it gets really weird and a most convoluted series of events and discoveries ends up in some sort of resolution which certainly justifies the title.

It’s a weird and rather compelling plot but plot is mostly what you get.  The dialogue feels a bi clunky and could maybe have done with some critical editing.  It’s mostly quite slow burn and it doesn’t feel like the actors have a lot to work with.  They are all fine but only Basel Daoud as the uncle, Younis, who is a deliciously larger than life and rather sinister character, really stands out.  Iles is pretty good and Yusuf Zine makes a decent fist of several different characters.  The women; Zaynna Khalife, as Adeeb’s aunt, and Christina Tannous, as his mother, seem a little anonymous.  I don’t think it’s weak acting.  I just don’t think they had enough (or maybe they had too much) to work with.  There are some dramatic, even violent moments and they are well done as are some of the weirder bits, supported by some effective projections.  Overall, I felt that the concept was intriguing but it could have been developed more effectively.

Karma is a Pleiades production directed by Ash Knight and plays at Theatre Passe Muraille until May 17th.

Photo credit: Cylla von Tiedemann