THE 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 people were murdered in little more than three months, would seem an overwhelming subject for a play. But J.T. Rogers’ “The Overwhelming” handles this daunting topic with a powerful immediacy and theatricality.
Originally seen at London’s National Theatre and now getting its American premiere by the Roundabout, the play concerns an American family that has arrived in the village of Kigali unaware of the region’s simmering tensions.
They include Jack (Sam Robards), a university professor, desperate to achieve tenure, who’s come to research a book; his African-American wife, Linda (Linda Powell, Colin’s daughter); and Geoffrey (Michael Stahl-David), his rebellious 17-year-old son from a previous marriage.
Jack had planned to write about his old college roommate, Joseph (Ron Cephas Jones), a doctor specializing in the treatment of AIDS. But now his friend has mysteriously disappeared.
The sometimes convoluted narrative depicts the American’s increasingly troubled interactions with a variety of Rwandan natives, as well as such peripheral figures as a deceptively jovial U.S. official (James Rebhorn) and a cynical French diplomat (Boris McGiver). Gradually, they become aware of the nightmarish situation unfolding before them, as the ruling Hutus terrorize the Tutsis.
Director Max Stafford-Clark has provided a briskly efficient staging featuring excellent performances from the ensemble, several of whom play multiple roles.
While the play occasionally seems disjointed, by the time it reaches its harrowing, horrific conclusion, it emerges as political theater of the most gripping kind.
THE OVERWHELMING
Laura Pels Theatre, 111 W. 46th St.; (212) 719-1300. Through Dec. 23.