Theatre in Review: The North Pool (Vineyard Theatre)

	Stephen Barker Turner and Babak Tafti. Photo: Carol Rosegg

Even if high school was an absolute nightmare for you, a trip to the vice principal's office was surely never the exercise in menace that it is in The North Pool. Before the plot of Rajiv Joseph's two-hander takes a dive into the deep end -- and, in truth, even after -- it keeps the audience on high alert, thanks to taut direction and a pair of first-rate performances.

The lights come up on Donyale Werle's eerily perfect depiction of an administrator's office in a large public high school. Is there a sadder place in the world? In Werle's rendering, complete with worn-out office furniture, "inspirational" posters, glazed brick walls, and dingy venetian blinds, the answer is no. Equally sad is its occupant. Every school has a Dr. Danielson, a dumpy-looking bureaucrat in a cheap shirt and tie, rumpled hair that defies a barber's skill, and glasses that are ten years out of date.

It is just before spring break, and Danielson has summoned Khadim Asmaan, a new student, for a talk. Interrogation would be a better word for what unfolds. Even when asking a few friendly questions, there's something false and ulterior in Danielson's manner, especially after he catches Khadim in a couple of small lies, forcing him to admit that he failed to return to class after a false-alarm bomb scare. So this is a minor disciplinary meeting, right?

Maybe not. "We try to keep a distance between administrator and student, teacher and student," he tells Khadim. "But these distances break down sometimes, especially when we get to know each other." And get to know each other they do -- Danielson has information about Khadim that goes well beyond what you find in a student transcript, and he doesn't mind using it to frighten the young man. Adding to the tension: The school has emptied for the spring break, and Danielson and Khadim are alone in the building. Meanwhile, Danielson's questions turn ever more personal, more inappropriate, as he openly trolls for details about the boy's parents and their business dealings, which are none of his business.

During this tense first half-hour, when Danielson's motivations are left teasingly unclear, The North Pool resonates with the suspicions and paranoia of the post 9/11 world. (The action is set in 2007.) Danielson is a mass of resentments, -- his marriage is over (for reasons that will become clear), he was been passed over for the position of principal (the job was given to a black woman, and don't get him started about that) -- and he is frankly envious of Khadim, whose well-off parents have provided him with a life of privilege. (Khadim was raised in several countries, speaks six languages, and when his parents choose to punish him, they deny him a skiing trip to France; this detail sends Danielson's temperature up several degrees.) Danielson is especially suspicious about why Khadim transferred from Eagleton, a posh private school. "I mean those folks over at Eagleton, they love to get a minority they can slap on the covers of their brochures," he says. Before long, he is accusing Khadim of the aforementioned bomb scare -- or maybe planning to bomb the school. When the boy fights back -- mocking Danielson's manner and painting him as a joke among the student body -- the air becomes thick with barely suppressed violence.

At this point, however, the twists start coming thick and fast; they include the reveal of a secret door leading to a catacomb beneath the school (the north pool of the title, built as a Cold War bomb shelter); Khadim's sideline as a reseller of various goods, especially his bizarre plan to smuggle rare birds into the US; a sex scandal that ensnared and embarrassed Danielson, wrecking his marriage; and the tragic death of a female student whose suicide links both men, an act in which each is complicit. The more you find out, the more The North Pool starts to descend into paperback-thriller territory.

It's a tribute to Joseph's skill that The North Pool remains compelling even when it isn't very convincing. He gets major assistance from Giovanna Sardelli's direction and a cast that never lets the tension level drop, even for a second. Stephen Barker Turner's Danielson is a self-righteous bully, battered by life and unable to see how his envy and disappointment color his behavior; trapped in an unexpected battle of wills, Babak Tafti's Khadim skillfully plays rope-a-dope, deflecting and evading Danielson until he bares his fury with surprising force. The two men play off each other with remarkable skill, keeping us guessing which of them will gain the upper hand next.

Everything else about the production is first-class, including David Lander's lighting, which plausibly recreates the dreary look of institutional fluorescent lighting without making the show look excessively drab; Paloma Young's costumes, which tell you plenty about the characters; and Daniel Kluger's sound design, which includes a couple of pitch-perfect announcements over the school's PA system.

To his credit, Joseph leaves both characters with plenty of psychological scar tissue; if only he hadn't overcomplicated his narrative to such an extent. Still, he has a knack for drama that many of his colleagues would do well to emulate. In the long run, I'm guessing that we'll see The North Pool as a relatively minor work -- but in its best passages, it provides further confirmation that he is a striking talent.--David Barbour