Based on the beloved novel by Yann Martel, the exquisite touring production uses puppets as its vocabulary, asking complex questions about storytelling and the power of imagination.
Director Jackie Maxwell’s production at Coal Mine Theatre, featuring six generous, empathetic performances, is a paean of understanding for the chronically ill, candidly examining the despair and fury of bodily helplessness in a way that’s magnified by our proximity to the characters in the intimate space.
While the play’s ideas sizzle and pop with contemporary verve, the story’s an occasionally frustrating vessel for those captivating sentiments on politics and identity.
Since much of Qalb is about distance — between mind and heart, justice and reality, me and you — it’s a powerful statement of hope to conclude with the bridging of a gap.