←Recommendations of Fire and Ice

Emily Russell has a gift for language, and she is able to pack so much into this short piece. Ella's transformation from her interaction with Ilmu is fascinating, poetic and heartfelt.

I watched this play as part of an online play series and it was so gripping and well-written. The explorations of what it means to be from a place and the ways in which we do/don't belong to it were especially meaningful, too. And the stage directions were so poetic they really created a vivid world.

EMILY RUSSELL’s play is a fascinating philosophical discussion of how an individual can and should become ‘in touch’ with a different land, culture, and tradition. When we come to a country as a tourist, our mind is filled with visions of things. To truly become a part of a country, one needs to immerse themselves In the country’s ways of doing things. I love how the sea is described. “Fire and Ice” is a well-written play.

A geothermal pool in Iceland is an intriguing setting ripe for mystery and a little mysticism. The characters -- one American, one Icelandic -- are unique and human. I’m left wondering at the end of this brief play about how Ella will be transformed by this encounter and whether she will be able to make that necessary leap into the unknown.

The evocations of the landscape and the natural world are so vivid and significant in this play that they take on the aspect of a third character, interacting with and shaping the journey that the others take. I can't recall the last time I've read stage directions rendered so lyrically that they can be read as beautiful poetry on their own. A wonderful reminder of how small we are in comparison to the larger world and how much greater we are when we act in engagement with it. An important work for our time.

This beautiful play took my imagination back to Iceland, and to the observations I made while touring this rugged, seemingly inhospitable landscape, descended upon by unchecked floods of tourists - like me. There's a send of wild eroding here, of secrets discovered, enchantments broken. Yet within the connection forged by these two characters, a tentative way forward? Russell captures a rare specificity, one that rises elegantly into universal socio-environmental themes. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot...

I loved watching the way Ilmu and Ella opened up to each other about the differences in their home countries and the different and similar things they are seeking.

Having been born on a small island and then moved to the peninsula of an even smaller island I identify strongly with many of themes raised in this play...The love hate relationship of islanders towards visitors... Locals to tourists... Protection of indigenous identity versus global fusion - Just who and what was/is/will be my tribe - And will I ever truly be externally/internally a member or just a long-term visitor?

There's a lot to admire in this delicately-crafted piece that captures the gentle, opening chords of a possible romance while also organically weaving in threads of the political and philosophical. The result is a short play with a disarming amount of heart and beauty.

Russell's innate ability to blend the personal and political shines brightly in FIRE AND ICE. This meditation on what we gain and lose through globalization is situated within the profoundly intimate dialogue between Ilmu and Ella. Speaking of dialogue, Russell's wit is unparalleled in this piece. FIRE AND ICE will leave you wondering how your nation's actions sometimes speak for you and encourage you to speak for yourself when diving into the unfamiliar.