Hold on I’m about to scare you.  In the Continuum, from New York company Primary Stages, is a two handed show that takes place over the course of 48 hours when two women, in Nicaragua and Los Angeles respectively, learn that their partners have impregnated them and given them HIV.   The show traces their reactions and the reactions of those they go to for advice. 

I know the subject matter- though relevant and true, (please don’t’ call the Politically Correct Police on me quite yet) could scare some potential audience members away.  It does sound a bit heavy handed- and any show about HIV after the influx of AIDS related art in the mid nineties risks cliché.  Horribly- although AIDS continues to be a problem, especially in Africa, much like the tragedy of 9/11, there is a staleness associated with it in the arts community.  It’s a sad fact that our television corrupted spectator attention spans occasionally lash out  at issues that need to be heard- making us think irresponsibly, “A play about HIV?  That is so ten years ago.”

This in mind, a subject as tragic and astigmatized as AIDS can be creatively studied, if the product of the attempt is spectacular enough to do it justice. In the Continuum at the Traverse is better than spectacular enough.  It succeeds not only in illuminating scandalously under discussed aspects of HIV in the United States and Africa, but uses theatre in a way that is interesting, innovative, and impressive.

Gurira and Salter give voice to their characters without being appropriative or dull.  In fact, the show is the opposite, “cutting’ cinematically between the stories of Abigail (in Nigeria, played by Gurira) and Nia (in Los Angeles, played by Salter) – through a series of one sided dialogues that are funny and dark.  (Creating an effect similar to overhearing someone on the telephone- having the audience invent the words of the person they are responding to.)  Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter in addition to Abigail and Nia play every character the women encounter throughout the two days.  Their  range is impressive, and the story is flawlessly crafted. Among the eight or so characters they take on, the most memorable from both a narrative and acted standpoint (with the exception of  the protagonists) are Gurira as a witch doctor Abigail goes to for advice, and Salter as the mother of Nia’s long term boyfriend.   Technically the show is beautifully understated in Colin D Young’s lighting design, Lindsay Jones sound design and Sarah Hillard’s deliberate, simple and versatile costuming.  Robert O’Hara’s direction shows a sensitivity to the actors’ strengths and an ability to visually clarify a complex but worthy script.  

Traverse Theatre

Fri 4 Aug (9.15pm), Sat 5 Aug (11.15am), Sun 6 Aug (1.45pm), Tue 8 Aug (4.15pm), Wed 9 Aug (7pm), Thu 10 Aug (9.15pm), Fri 11 Aug (11.15am), Sat 12 Aug (1.45pm), Sun 13 Aug (4.30pm)

Tickets: £12.50 (£9 concession)