Story of O
By THE RABBLE after Pauline
Reage
Supported by NEON (Melbourne
Theatre Company)
The Lawler Studio – Southbank
June 27 – July 7
Creators – Kate Davis and
Emma Valente
Director – Emma Valente
Set & Costume Design –
Date Davis
Cast
O – Mary Helen Sassman
Sir Stephen – Jane Montgomery
Griffith
Rene - Gary Abrahams
Jacqueline – Dana Miltins
Anne-Marie – Pier Carthew
Nathalie – Emily Milledge
Actors move around on a
sparse stage, set with merry-go-round horses and sprinkled with sand that makes
a crunching sound as it is walked on.
This modern reinterpretation, by The Rabble, of the original novel Story of O written by Pauline Reage (Anne
Desclos) and published in 1954, is at times, an overwhelmingly visceral
experience.
The masochism of being
subjected to erotic/pornographic sex is explored from the female
perspective. Mary Helen Sassman plays O,
a young woman with a healthy defiance, who throughout is symbolically violated
with clinical objectivity - as though such exploits are an imperative and necessary
evil. The unquestioning compliance, with
which, the-matter-of fact sex acts are perpetrated, by the other characters, is
fascinating. This disturbing malaise of
neutrality allows, the viewer, space for contemplating meaning that is
uncluttered by emotional connectivity.
As O, Sassman tellingly and
poignantly portrays the journey of a feisty and strong willed young woman being
corroded by voluntary sexual exploitation/victimization.
Emily Milledge is beautifully
cast as Nathalie an apparently unquestioning compliant and complicit child like
assistant who’s participation in torturous activities implies the self
perpetuating unquestioning and cyclic nature of the exploitation of the female
body.
The character of Sir Stephen
played by Jane Montgomery Griffiths establishes an unstable patriarchal focal
point. Griffith richly and disturbingly
embodies this controlling and unlovely male character who initially lectures the
audience on the semantics of erotica.
Story of O
is a serious work and not for the faint hearted. Acts of sex and violence such as penetration,
restraint and whipping are robustly and graphically, albeit symbolically,
enacted.
Director Emma Valente
courageously and rewardingly explores theories of erotica in relation to gender
– fulfillment, satiation and annihilation.
It is an intense and rocky
ride that has much to recommend it including a hilarious parody on the casting
of a classic work that is concurrently running at Melbourne Theatre Company.
