Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Rajiv Joseph’s espionage thriller DAKAR 2000 comes into focus in its larger philosophical musings

• By drediman
• February 28, 2025
• No Comments

Earlier this week, Rajiv Joseph’s new two-hander Dakar 2000 opened Off-Broadway at New York City Center Stage I, courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club. In short, the work is a memory play recounting a young man’s experience in Senegal as a Peace Corps worker during the time leading up to the turn of the millennium. In his effort to make a real difference, he illegally re-allocates building material provided by the U.S. Department of State to improve the welfare of a small local village. This dubious act leads to a meeting and unexpected collaboration with a mysterious older woman at the State Department, who introduces him to the world of espionage (no further spoilers here).

Rajiv Joseph writes with immense theatrical scope, as exemplified by daring plays like Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, which was seen on Broadway in 2011 starring none other than the late, great Robin Williams as the titular tiger. Indeed, he’s not one to shy away from grandiose visions. Initially, Dakar 2000 may seem like one of his most conventional plays. But if look closer at this seemingly straightforward espionage thriller — which on the surface could benefit from some more egregious double crossing and/or a more salacious affair than what you’ll come across — you’ll find the playwright’s spectacular imagination churning restlessly just beneath the veneer of the play’s “reality”. Over the course of 80 tight minutes, he throws — both subtly and non-so-subtly — our sense of moral code and perceptions of our existence into a tailspin vis-à-vis speculations on end of the world (which oddly seem more relevant now than in the midst of the Y2K scare). Suffice to say, the relationships between truth and lies, reality and illusion — as well as the nature of human relationships — are all put into question by the Joseph’s probing mind.

To be sure, the playwright also knows his way dramatically around two-handers — as exemplified by beautifully crafted plays like Gruesome Playground Injuries (2009), Guards at the Taj (2015), and King James (2022) — and the dialogue that he has penned for Dakar 2000 is rife with intrigue and tension, which both Mia Barron and the hugely charismatic Abubaker Ali navigate with fascinating tug-of-war rapport. They also handle the play’s heavy philosophical musings with disarming curiosity. The power play between the two characters brings a dance-like quality to their interactions, much like the two brothers in Samuel D. Hunter’s Grangeville, another Off-Broadway play currently on the boards. Although a bit on the bland side, the direction by May Adrales keeps things moving along at a nice clip, compelling audiences to lean forward until the very end.

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DAKAR 2000
Off-Broadway, Play
Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Through March 23