Maskers’ ‘Scotland Road’ starts big, but slips

“Scotland Road,” currently being performed by the Belfast Maskers, is a psychological thriller. It’s eerie, scary and bordering on the fantastical. Written by Jeffrey Hatcher in the early 1990s, the two-act play has at its center one of the most captivating themes in popular culture right now: the Titanic. But don’t be misled. “Scotland Road” isn’t really about the sea tragedy. Actually, you won’t ever be completely sure what the play IS about, but it’s safe to say it deeply explores artifice and the human mind.

The timing of the plot is present day in a stark white room. A twentysomething Welsh woman dressed in Victorian clothes and standing on an iceberg has been rescued by a Norwegian fishing vessel near Iceland and brought to a makeshift clinic off the coast of Maine. She utters one word only: Titanic.

The woman is put in the care of a dubiously certified doctor who, in turn, delivers her to an equally questionable interrogator obsessed with the famed shipwreck. The man pays nicely for the opportunity to prove, in just six days, that the woman is a fraud. Meanwhile, the pseudo-doc finds an elderly Titanic survivor in Ogunquit to assist in the case.

To say any more would be to steal from the fine work this four-person cast does in crafting a most suspenseful first act, which begins with the opening of huge gray panels that look like the front of an ocean liner and ends in a monologue chillingly delivered by Julia Olson, as the woman. Up to that point, “Scotland Road” is loopy but it draws you in shamelessly. Act II is less successful because it slips too far into maudlin plot remedies, which is, of course, the danger of writing about such unexplainable events. (It’s worth noting that Hatcher got the idea for this play when driving through the Dakota Badlands where he picked up a trashy tabloid and read about a supposed Titanic survivor floating around on an iceberg.)

Still the ambience of this show is enough to justify its existence. Thomas Westphal, Lucinda Ziesing, Lilias Outerbridge, and Olson work tightly together to succeed in exposing both the comedy and the mystery of their characters. That’s particularly important in a show that has nearly two dozen quick scene changes in a very ghostly atmosphere. Director Robert Hitt adds an impressively spooky design of an imposing set, sterile lighting and moody music. All this could easily slip into foolishness, but generally keeps its head above water.

The title refers to a secret passageway on the Titanic and is the central metaphor for the real theme of Hatcher’s writing — the slippery and surreal surfaces of humans. In some ways, “Scotland Road” takes the famous wreck to a more poetic plane, and creates a peculiar stage piece with more intrigue, ethereality and mystery than anything on the big screen.

The Belfast Maskers will present “Scotland Road” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 5 p.m. Sunday through June 21 at the Railroad Theater in Belfast. For information, call 338-9668.