Dina Soltan as Samira and Jake Loewenthal as Jason. Photo by Chris Banks.
Plays based on actual people from the past generally take one of several approaches: they might offer an in-depth, if not quasi-fictionalized, narrative about a specific moment(s) from that period and that life, or they could use the characters to speak to the bigger-picture concepts and themes that were relevant during that time. In Mosaic’s latest production, “Dodi & Diana,” the playwright, Kareem Fahmy, takes an altogether different approach—a rather unique approach. Instead of rehashing the love story and final fatal moments of the Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed, Fahmy uses the couple as a framework into which he sets the love story of a modern-day husband and wife, deemed Dodi and Diana’s astrological counterparts.
…Soltan and Loewenthal…do an incredible job of balancing the self-involved aspects of their characters with the love story that desperately wants to come out…the cast, crew, and creative team do a terrific job of keeping the audience entertained.
Samira (Dina Soltan) and Jason (Jake Loewenthal), at the behest of their astrologer (whose advice they seem to blindly follow) find themselves locked in a Parisian suite for a period of exactly 72 hours. Married for about a decade, they are in the midst of trying to figure out where they go from here. Jason’s a promising banker with a penchant for making money. Samira is an actress on the rise who may have just landed the part of a lifetime—but at what cost? This two-hander focuses largely on the ups and downs of their marriage as compressed into this rather bizarre, 72-hour period during which a mysterious “convergence” is supposed to take place and accordingly, upend their lives in a pretty momentous way. The sorrow-filled tale of Dodi and Diana is relevant to this story inasmuch as the current couple occupies the same room that the famous pair slept in prior to their catastrophic paparazzi run-in. Samira and Jason, as told to them by their astrologer, are also weirdly positioned doppelgangers of Dodi and Diana. Beyond these “coincidences,” the connection between Princess Di/Dodi Fayed and Jason/Samira is tenuous at best.
Truly a relationship-driven show, we find out a great deal about who this couple is, what they each desire, and how their interactions seem to replicate patterns that have not exactly been conducive to cultivating a healthy marriage. Will they or won’t they stay together, given lessons from the past and the direction of their individual futures, seems to be the overriding question driving the narrative arc. While the Dodi and Diana parallels are intriguing, they are not quite enough to sustain a prolonged metaphorical relationship between the storylines, implied or otherwise. In other words, it feels almost like two separate stories patched together to make a point that really isn’t that central after all.
Director Reginald L. Douglas keeps the play moving. The pacing is about as up-tempo as it gets with the actors running, jumping, dancing, and fornicating across the stage at any given moment. In some ways, this deftly mirrors the marriage and its freneticism. Then again, in some ways, it can be a bit too much of a whirlwind during moments when a needed, lower-key intimacy seems at stake. For their parts, Soltan and Loewenthal admirably keep up. They do an incredible job of balancing the self-involved aspects of their characters with the love story that desperately wants to come out. Whether or not you root for them, I will leave that to your own viewing experience to determine.
Among the true stars of this production are Shartoya R. Jn. Baptiste’s set design and Sage Green’s lighting. Together, scene and lights effect a sumptuousness coupled with unabashed playfulness that dynamically immerses audiences in the experience of inhabiting this room. Despite some of the imbalance inherent in the play itself, the cast, crew, and creative team do a terrific job of keeping the audience entertained. There is always something to look at, wonder about, and engage with as you follow the playful, fraught, and wild moments in the life of this married couple.
Running Time: One hour and 30 minutes with no intermission.
Advisory: Contains simulated sex and drug use, as well as profanity. Features strobe effects and brief nudity.
“Dodi & Diana” runs through October 5, 2025 presented by Mosaic Theater Company in the Sprenger Theatre at Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St NE, Washington, DC 20002. For more information and to purchase tickets, please go online.
