Review - Wild

Melbourne Theatre Company Presents

Wild

By

Mike Bartlett

Director – Dean Bryant

Set Designer – Andrew Bailey

Costume Designer – Owen Philips

Lighting Designer – Ross Graham

Composer and Sound Designer – Sydney Millar

Cast

Andrew – Nicholas Denton

Woman – Anna Lise Phillips

Man – Toby Schmitz

Southbank Theatre, The Sumner

5 May – 9 June 2018

Wild is a fresh, clever, pacey, engrossing work.  In fact you don’t know what has hit you when you walk out of the auditorium.

As a probe of the public/private realm, that highlights just how vulnerable we are to scrutiny in all aspects of our lives, it is very timely.  It suggests that even those of us who have lived only a small percentage of our lives on/with social media are still vulnerable to not having the luxury of keeping any dark secrets in the proverbial closet.

As theatre audiences we are privileged to get to see Mike Bartlett’s work.  His play Cock was produced by MTC in 2014 and more recently by Bakers Dozen (Directed by Ben Ho) earlier this year.  And Bartlett’s Oliver Award winning play King George III about Prince Charles ascension to the throne, complete with ghost of Princess Diana, was given an airing in Sydney by STC in 2016.

Cock it is about identity and how identity is influenced by environment and in relation to others.  Wild explores the shattering of identity due to the destabilizing of the structures constitute society.

Andrew (Nicholas Denton) has the appearance and demeanor of a kind of everyman.   He is portrayed as a person who, seemingly with out guile, blew a whistle on corruption that in turn released Government secrets - like Edward Snowden.  The subsequent fallout is frightening.  Andrew is rendered stateless and bailed up in a generic hotel room in Moscow.  We witness is his destabilizing by two ‘secret agent types’ Woman (Anna Lise Phillips) and Man (Toby Schmitz).  These characters are confusing and disturbing particularly because of the way they talk about themselves and how their stories change.

Andrew’s total vulnerability is palpable.  Yet we feel, not so much for him, but for ourselves as we watch him try to grapple with his drastically changed circumstances.   Having ruptured reality, by exposing some of the fundamental travesties that underpin the mechanics of society as we have constructed it, any reliable framework has been smashed for Andrew.

As Man, Schmitz, with the help of a wacky hair-do, has developed the most marvelously sinister character with indications of ominous power and shifty danger.   Phillips as Woman is no less engaging.   Her energy, commitment and focus does much to drive the performance forward as it twists back on its self and confounds.

Ultimately nothing is as it seems and we, almost too fully, experience Andrews wrenching disassociation.

In many ways Dean Bryant makes the perfect Director for Wild however I feel the obvious is overstated at times.  For example Andrew’s helplessness is highlighted in the middle of the work through a naked torso.  Wild is very energetically and emphatically staged.   I wonder if, as the season progresses and the production matures, moderation in tempo and intensity will heighten clarity.

The set with evocatively strange vivid colouring is designed by Andrew Bailey and enhanced by the shades in the costumes (Owen Phillips) and beautifully lit by Ross Graham.  And sound Design by Sidney Miller is marvelously subtle and atmospheric.

It is such a pleasure to be an audience to actors who are not mic’d.

Pretty much as exciting as anticipated.

Very strong and intelligent theatre.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review - Bock Kills her Father

La Mama

Presents

Bock Kills Her Father

By Adam Cass

Directed by Penny Harphem

Bock - Emma Annand

Taylor - Marissa O’Reily

D’Agostino - Emina Ashman

Chambers – Roby Hughes

Sarah – Annie Lumsden

Sound design and composition by Raya Slavin

Set and costume by Owen Philips

Lighting design by Jason Crick

Dramaturgy by Seanna Van Helton

La Mama Theatre – A part of Melbourne Fringe

September 16 - 27 2015

The title Bock Kills her Father with its suggestion of parricide immediately had me thinking of The Cenci by Percy Shelly a disturbing work about incest and murder that was lauded and directed by Antonin Artaud.  I wondered if this aspect of Theatre History inspired writer Adam Cass or perhaps it is the more current sensational stories of the sexual abuse of students by teachers that has informed his intense and weighty piece.

This polished production, in many ways reminiscent of the Neon production of Patricia Cornelious’s play Slut, is disquieting.  It is set on a murky yet translucent blue colored performance space (Owen Philips) that is nicely lit by Jason Crick.   And it is underscored with tortured sound, (Raya Slavin), that is grating and appropriately irritating and a far cry from the jaunty promising melodic music that opens the work.   This harsh sound could well be referencing Artaud and his ‘Theatre of Cruelty’.  For me it is the strongest component in the production.

As an ambitious undertaking Cass has produced a perplexing piece of writing that may well be difficult to wrangle.  It is a text that quite subtly reveals its truths bit by bit.  It is part naturalistic and part a kind of crazy subtext.  Initially individual rhythms and personalities impress but as the evening progresses, and possibly through a lack of playing clear intentions by the actors, characterization seems less clear.   However having said that this could be intended in the writing as all young protagonists seem to be ‘tarred by the same brush’ and, it would seem, are perpetually disenfranchised by their immediate community.  

There are a number of scenes that don’t feel real.  However the opening night performance inferred, that, if the actors garner speed, confidence and a more complete sense of their characters, particularly what drives and motivates their vindictive craziness, the whole should galvanize and make stronger sense of what the writer is trying to say.   

Owen Philips set is strong in its minimalism but his costuming is neither here nor there and seems to have a conservative edge.  It is too clean and pristine and middle class all round and makes little reference to the set.  It also adds to the sense of naturalism and therefore only partially serves the text.

As for what it is being suggested about the damaging and dividing of young woman by a (possibly) predatory male - this is not fully integrated in the whole and perhaps requires some stronger social references to give the whole more relevance and clout. 

This challenging and bemusing work although not fully satisfying, and way too nice, is thought provoking and has a great deal to offer.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)