As much as I enjoy the classics I also love when I get the chance to see something new (or at least new to me.) It takes guts for a company to try and mount something different and particular courage to do something edgier here in Northern Utah. Such was my enriching experience seeing Lil Poppet’s production of the play Annapurna. While the play has been around since 2013 I had never heard of it before this production and I’m glad to now have it on my radar.

If you also haven’t heard of it this play is a two-hander that focuses on a estranged couple that finally have to deal with their issues after 20 years of abandonment and anger. Emma played by Stephanie Stroud has left her current husband in a rush and has become reunited with her first husband Ulysses played by Jeff Nichols. Emma and Ulysses have a son together and their son is trying to find Ulysses- a fact that terrifies Emma and forces her to have this confrontation with her ex.

The production at Lil Poppet is directed by Matthew Ivan Bennett and he makes the black box space feel both sparse and immersive (set design by Stroud and Bennett.) Ulysses lives in a trailer in Colorado, and he’s basically given up on human beings and having any kind of meaningful life. Emma see’s this and is disgusted but wants to help Ulysses so that her son isn’t disappointed with the absent father he has elevated to a hero status.

I must admit with Annapurna I’m not the biggest fan of movies or plays about marital discord (or fighting in general.) Obviously that’s a reality and an important part of life, but I have a hard time not absorbing some of that conflict and becoming anxious or stressed from the experience. That said, this tension is extremely well done, and I’m glad I saw it, which says a lot coming from me.

The title of the play comes from a Himalayan mountain and I’m not sure why the playwright Sharr White picked an Asian mountain as opposed to something in Colorado or Utah where the play is set. But nevertheless the metaphor is ever-present of the massive mountains that can divide us as humans and how particularly in marriage choices can be made that seem unsurmountable to overcome. The more we learn about Ulysses and Emma’s past the more we see they probably should have never been together to begin with.

That said, Stroud and Nichols have an underlying chemistry that even with all the fighting we understand why they were (and are still) attracted to each other. This dynamic between them makes the play compelling and helps me overcome my national aversion to fighting and the tension that builds with me as an audience member.

The production of Annapurna at Lil Poppet does everything it can to immerse you in the experience of this couple and it reminded me of the trailer parks I visited on my mission. This is a more academic couple than I usually saw in rural Indiana but the trash and  laissez-faire attitude to life is very similar. Ulysses is after all a poet so his version of poverty is going to be of the more thoughtful elevated variety.

Unfortunately the run at Lil Poppet was very short and I am admittedly late in getting out this review. While Annapurna has closed keep an eye on this theatre company as they always produce bold and exciting productions. They also had a ‘pay what you can’ system for this play so if you’re on a budget they are very accessible for professional quality acting and directing. Coming up in June they have the play True West which has been on my bucket list for a long time. I’m very excited to see it. More information can be found here.

Annapurna is a play written by Sharr White in 2013. It premiered Off-Broadway in 2014 with Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman as our lead couple.

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