Queen of Hearts mimes the ravages of warStatements understated
by Sarah Deshaies
An unnamed war breaks out, with clashes and explosions ridding a city of all its people. All of them flee the destruction, except two women unwittingly clinging to one another in a small room in an abandoned asylum.
For a 55-minute play, Queen of Hearts is stylishly powerful. It expertly mines the skills of its main actresses/clowns/mimes Manon Beaudoin and Lois Anderson, who are both on point as a mad patient and wounded nurse, respectively. Both are trapped in this one, bare room, where they simultaneously anticipate their rescue and devolve into craziness. By the end, we’re not sure who’s nursing who.
