Shadow Theatre's Annapurna opens as a beautifully wrenching production

Love is dangerous. It can take you to breathtaking heights or cripple your life. In a nutshell, that's the premise of American playwright Sharr White's Annapurna now on at Varscona Theatre.

Although the underlying theme might sound sappy, this Shadow Theatre two-hander is both heartbreaking yet humorous and shows how split second decisions can create soul-sucking torment for decades.

Twenty years ago Emma makes a spur-of-the-moment decision to run from her husband Ulysses. She packs up Sam, their five-year old son and disappears in the middle of the night. Ulysses never knew why she left.

A reckless poet who achieved a certain level of fame, Ulysses has checked out of civilization and parked his mobile home high in the mountains.

He's an alcoholic that quit cold turkey after an accident he couldn't quite remember. Binging on smokes, Ulysses developed lung cancer and waits to die in his tin can trailer. The day's biggest diversion is cooking rotten meat for a barking dog the audience never sees.

Questions gnaw away as he wonders why Emma suddenly packed up and disappeared. He cannot remember that night.

The not knowing has pushed him close to the edge and he's eased the pain by writing two five-page letters a week to his son that have gone unanswered.

He's stopped caring about himself. When we first meet him, he's butt naked except for a towel covering the family jewels and an oxygen tank strapped to his back.

As Emma unexpectedly barges into his trailer carrying a ton of luggage and personal baggage, it's obvious she's visiting for more than a quick pass-through. Intelligent, take-charge, and roughed up by circumstances, Emma has come to head off her son who is on his way to visit the old man.

Sam recently discovered boxes of letters Ulysses sent to his grandmother's house, and blames his mother from keeping them from him. Sam hired a detective to locate his father and is on the way for an overdue visit.

Ulysses and Emma have a lot of dirty laundry to air out: his alcoholism, her attraction to bad boys, his profound literary talent, her abrupt departure, their thing for each other, their joint love of Sam, and a suppressed desire to square the accounts.

Shaun Johnston is a powerful force on stage. He has found the perfect balance between portraying a bristling natural born rebel that has morphed into a washed out has-been to slowly revealing the sensitive soul beneath the macho exterior.

Coralie Cairns is exquisitely matched as she dishes out acid commentary in equal parts to compassion and tenderness. Initially bitchy and totally disgusted by Ulysses repulsive lifestyle, Cairns also brings a daintiness and tenderness to the role that completely disarms the viewer.

Their climactic confrontation is superbly painful, and provides the necessary release for two decades of pent-up anger, guilt, despair, shame and fear. But Annapurna is far from a downer as comedic zingers share equal footing to real tears.

Director John Hudson handily guides this gritty two-hander through a rollercoaster of emotions that would stump a lesser talent. Daniel vanHeyst deserves special kudos for designing the realistic cutaway trailer house that is Ulysses' grubby man cave.

One of the strongest shows of the Edmonton season, Annapurna runs until Sunday, Feb. 5.