Theme Of Identity Crisis In The Sand

Figuring out the identity of oneself can be a struggle because with it comes the disclosure of dark secrets that oneself has to accept in order to truly recognize who he or she is. “A Line In The Sand” is a Canadian play that was recently presented at the Factory Theatre in Toronto. The play was authored by two renowned playwrights Guillemore Verdecchia and Marcus Youssef. The play was established in the era of the Gulf war and deals with a number of complex posts and pre-war issues. One of the issues in the play that was addressed is identity crisis that Mercer a 20-year-old man and Sadiq a 17-year-old boy face. This paper will explore the performance’s representation of identity crisis the characters in the play face through sand’s role as …show more content…
Sand’s unique role as a prop involves the divulging of characters unique personality traits. The intended property of sand can be explored when Mercer for the first time shows his camera to Sadiq, which in the performance he takes out of the sand (Verdecchia and Youssef 33). This scene reveals that Mercer has a desire to capture irreplaceable moments and visits to unique places no matter how burdensome they may be. However, this is not the only trait that is revealed about Mercer. It also exposes a great deal about the character’s identity crisis, which is that he does not want to forget all the intensities he has experienced in life that has become a part of him. He wants to use these photographs as a reminder of who he is. He needs some sort of physical evidence to admonish who he is because at times he forgets. Mercer is not the only character that takes objects out of the sand, Sadiq does that too in the first scene when he first encounters Mercer. He offers Mercer various kinds of American cultural entertainment such as a Michael Jackson CD (Verdecchia and Youssef 18). This scene uncovers, that Sadiq knows a great deal about the American pop culture. However, not only does he have knowledge about this culture, but he is strongly influenced by it as well, and, as a result, he wants to become a part of it. However, his love for the American culture with no reluctance can be doubted, as in another scene, he calls Qatar “his forever home” (Verdecchia and Youssef 57). This scene exposes Sadiq’s identity crisis, which is whether or not he wants to be associated with America’s culture of glamor and equality (so what he perceives to be). As a result, the sand’s use as a prop in the play place an effective emphasis on the recurring issue of an identity crisis that Sadiq and Mercer deal