Ellen Close and Praneet Akilla: costume design by Stephanie Kong | Photo by David Cooper

A contemporary conspiracy thriller, the world premiere of Cipher is underway at the Arts Club’s Granville Island Stage.

Running until Mar. 7, the show looks to subvert iconic tropes of the noir genre, with a cold case that examines some modern social issues.

Neo-noir

Cipher centers around a long unsolved murder mystery, a fictional Vancouver Island case inspired by a real mystery, Australia’s Somerton Man. A forensic scientist thinks she’s close to uncovering the truth of the past, but finds herself caught up in the present as well.

“It’s based on a woman’s obsession with a Cold War era cold case,” says Craig Hall, the director of Cipher and artistic director of Calgary’s Vertigo Theatre. “But then a young South Asian man shows up, says he and his family might have some involvement, and the two of them go down the rabbit hole of this conspiracy.”

Originally developed in Calgary by Vertigo Theatre, Cipher was brought to Vancouver for its world premiere by the Arts Club. Hall calls it “neo-noir”, as it recognizes the romanticism attached to the noir genre, while also looking to bring the darker reality of the genre to the stage.

“It’s dark, but I would say it has a fairly broad appeal,” he says. “It’s spy vs spy, yet it’s very contemporary. It’s iconic but also subversive.”

Hall describes the visualization of Cipher as almost like a film: there are instantaneous changes of location, and the world it inhabits is highly conceptual.

“There’s a movement element to the show,” says Hall, “with different scenarios playing out in front of both the characters and the audience. Aside from addressing important contemporary issues, [the writers] chose to tell the story in a very unique way.”

Sense of reality

Craig Hall, director of Cipher and artistic director of Calgary’s
Vertigo Theatre. | Photo courtesy of Arts Club

Many of the contemporary issues that Hall alludes to revolve around the character of Aqeel Saleemi, a young man for whom the case has personal meaning, and who faces plenty of challenges from external forces.

“I’m a big fan of cold case thrillers and true crime stories,” says Praneet Akilla, the actor who plays Saleemi. “And as an actor of colour, having a character so well-developed as he is really drew me in.”

Akilla received the show’s script back in December of 2017, and fell in love with it, participating in intermittent workshops all the way up to when full rehearsals began in earnest. The role of Saleemi is one that delves into very real and heavy issues, and Akilla sees that as one of its strong points.

“I know a lot of my South Asian friends have faced a lot of the problems that Aqeel goes through, when it comes to issues like racial profiling and subconscious discrimination,” he says. “I think it’s important there’s light shone on these issues, while not force-feeding it to the audience.”

In the show, Saleemi is torn culturally, and for him the case is more than just a case: it’s a longing to find out who he is, and his place in the world. While Akilla has not lived the same life as the character he plays, it is a role that he’s been able to truly inhabit.

“There’s always a part of me in any character I play,” he says. “In terms of this character, I think a lot of it is a lived experience…through my own experience and through other friends’ stories. The writers wrote a character I was able to understand and inhabit from day one.”

Two words that Hall used as pillars of the show are “empathy” and “consequence”. Akilla echoes that, and hopes those who see Cipher walk away with some natural self-reflection.

“I want people to go away with a bit more self-awareness about their role in society,” says Akilla. “The things they can do to make it better, any subconscious prejudices that they might have…just to be more aware of peoples’ stories, and have some more empathy and understanding.”

For more information, visit www.artsclub.com.