Previously Blue is a story about catastrophes and how they can inspire others to hope and help people in need. Previously Blue was produced by Dijana Milosevic and Nesa Paripovic. It was performed by Dah Theatre’s Maja Vujovic, 7 Stages’ Del Hamilton and Faye Allen, and Café Antarsia Ensemble’s Nikos Brisco. The performance took place in Dows Theatre at Coe College, on Saturday, September 5 (2015-2016 Coe College Marquis Series).

Previously Blue began with a Tyrant, his wife, and her two friends. The wife had fallen out of love with her Tyrant and people were suffering. The environment was desolate. The wife found messages in bottles from those people and she and her friends tried to explain to the Tyrant how badly those people needed help. Instead, he dropped those bottles to the ground, as he believed that helping others was insignificant. His wife and her friends vowed to leave, to see the beauty and reality in the world, and discover what they could do to help.

The three women left the Tyrant, only to be sucked into a memory of a sunken honeymoon. The wife and Tyrant were on a honeymoon cruise. Her husband was commanding the ship, the seas were rough. Eventually, the captain (Tyrant) could no longer keep the cruise afloat, and so the ship sank on their honeymoon.

The play jumps to a later scene of a city drowning in water. The female trio witnessed the tragedy and eventually returned to the Tyrant. The Tyrant, who was eventually revealed as the Devil, refused to believe that the world was beautiful, or that it could be helped. To change his mind, one of the wife’s friends offers herself to the Devil to be his new bride. His views of helping others began to sway. His mind changed once his former wife and her friends read the messages from the bottles. They were facts and fictions and signs of hope. In the end, the Devil had a change of heart, people could help others.

The performance of Previously Blue was eclectic and engaging. The play had many ideas. It keeps one wanting to watch more in order to see how the stories and connections play out. However, Previously Blue was acted and directed well.

By Sam T.