By BRIDGETTE REDMAN
The Lansing State Journal October 21, 2004

It’s not about abortion.

It’s about how two souls manage to connect even when their owners have every reason to be repelled by the other.

OK, it’s also about abortion.

“Keely and Du”, the season opener for Icarus Falling, pushes a highly polarizing issue to extremes. Du (Laura Croff) and Walter (Kevin Knights) kidnap Keely (Jamie DesRocher), a rape victim determined to end her pregnancy. They plan to keep her to protect the child

You won’t, though, be subjected to 90 minutes of abortion debate. Instead, you’ll see what two women are inspired to do because of their convictions and their pasts.

Director Fred Longacre spotlights the relationship between the women. The relationship transcends differences and what one does to the other. Stockholm syndrome aside, it speaks to the ability of human souls to touch no matter how much thoughts and actions get in the way.

Croff’s motions and voice convincingly age her 40 years. Her genuineness keeps us from hating or even feeling contempt for a woman behaving far outside acceptable societal boundries. Rather, we come to sympathize with her, even if we cannot condone the choice she has made.

DesRocher’s Keely is the one true victim. She exhibits frustration, anger and vulnerability. She fails to convince us that she was confined to a bed for 37 days, but she does bring us into the horror of her rape and the fear and anger that haunt her.

Together, Croff and DesRocher create genuinely suspenseful and heartbreaking moments.

The men occupy repulsive roles. Knights’ Walter is easy to hate, so repugnant are his actions and interactions. John Dexter as Cole, Keely’s ex-husband, stirs thoughts of violence.

“Keely and Du” is a dramatic and heart-rending production that answers no questions nor provides any solutions. Instead, it asks what we would do for our convictions and what we would feel for another.