Soliciting Temptation

Miriam Fernandes and Derek Boyes in Soliciting Temptation by Erin Shields. Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann.

Now on stage at Tarragon Thetare, Erin Shields’ latest play, Soliciting Temptation, examines the heavy themes of sex tourism, pedophilia, and cultural appropriation via a heated exchange between two equally lonely characters who choose to spend the night together for very different reasons.

We first meet Man (Derek Boyes), a seemingly affable and somewhat pathetic aging executive type, as he awakens, sweat-drenched in a squalid hotel room in an unnamed developing country. Upon stumbling around to reach for his whiskey, he realizes that both the fan and air conditioner are broken. He has called down to request a new room when there is a knock on the door. Hearing this, he abruptly hangs up the phone and scurries to open the door. Enter a very young-looking, beautiful and silent Girl (Miriam Fernandes) who we soon learn he has ordered to keep him company for the night.

Soliciting Temptation’s plot is dependent on many twists, some of which are more believable than others. For the first few minutes, Girl is presented as a benevolent, voiceless canvass upon which Man can project his fantasies and we watch him take advantage of this. The illusion is swiftly shattered, however, when Girl unexpectedly provides fierce rebukes to his advances in unaccented English. In this pivotal reveal, we learn that she’s an undercover university student performing field research. From here the play turns into a back-and-forth dissection of desire, loneliness, exploitation, appropriation and moral outrage from various angles. Although the characters at times veer towards caricature, there is enough self-aware humour in the script to keep references to Marx and “women’s study classes” entertaining rather than tiresome.

Both Boyes and Fernandes provide stellar performances as unlikely comrades who forge a strange bond out of their shared loneliness and repression. The distinct ambiance of a sweltering low-rent hotel room is spot-on, and the play’s main themes are complemented well by Ken MacKenzie’s simple set design and the flashing lights and street sounds that evoke an overcrowded, dirty street beyond the blinds.

Soliciting Temptation runs until May 4 at Tarragon Theatre Extraspace. Visit tarragontheatre.com for more information and to buy tickets.