Review - Hir

Hir – Review – SSandow

Red Stitch Presents:

HIR

By Taylor Mac

Directed by Daniel Clarke

Assistant Director – Thomas Quirk

Set and Costume Design – Adrienne Chisholm

Lighting Design – Richard Vabre

Sound Design - Ian Moorhead

Cast:

Belinda McClory – Paige

Ben Grant  - Arnold

Jordan Fraser-Trumble – Isaac

Harvey Zaska-Zielinski – Max

30 January to 4 March 2018

Hir is a real shocker.  It is hugely entertaining, hysterical, disturbing, bewilderingly, disorientating, yet, satisfyingly orientating - all at the same time.  It is a timely immersion into a kitchen sink dramatization (pardon the pun) of changing social sexual mores and, as such, offers a cathartic journey for the audience. 

This play by the iconic Taylor Mac is like a hot potato – risky to handle.   It is ultra immediate and addresses the changes in gender politics and lived changes in gender that are all around us.   The personal is still political and perhaps even more so then in the early 70s.

Chaos reigns on a marvelous wacky colourful set by Adrienne Chisholm. 

Instead of maintaining the status quo and nurturing her husband Arnold (Ben Grant) after his debilitating stroke, Paige (Belinda McClory) inverts expectations of a caring wife.   She takes a frenzied ‘quasi-feminist’ route in unleashing upheaval in her family’s home.  In conjunction with this her adolescent daughter Max (Harvey Zaska-Zielinski) is swapping her gender requiring the use of hormones, the growth of facial hair and the adopting of new personal pronouns.  And Paige’s dishonorably discharged soldier son Isaac (Jordan Fraser-Trumble) returns from war, presumably in search of solace and healing, to an unrecognizable home.

Though out this romp are heaps of metaphorical rabbit holes and a number of hand grenades; some of which are thrown and some, unexpectedly, are not.  Every now and again there is a pervading sense of doom - then suddenly everything is back on track and kind of ok or a bit less ok - but making more sense.  As audience we are totally engaged with the excellent acting and twists and turns in the expose of the characters, unfolding of complications and nuances of the predicament.

Director Daniel Clarke’s casting is excellent. One can sense he and his actors have just ‘bitten the bullet’ and run with this vital volatile work.  A masterpiece of our times classily presented?  I think so!

McClory is masterful.  Her Paige subversively defies convention with, at times, the playful unreasonableness of a petulant child.   This contrasts with the weighty seriousness of old social patriarchal conventions and expectations.  We know what they are - only too well.  And we know the real and or implied violence intrinsic to maintaining these precepts.  The stakes are pretty high and at any point things could get nasty.   

Ben Grant, as the long-suffering Arnold, perceptively conveys an intellectually damaged man who is at the mercy of his pugnacious wife.   Delightfully contrasting this, at times, with a sparkle in his eye, he conveys an acute awareness of his predicament.  Moments when Grant quietly expresses Arnold’s elusive thoughts are wicked magic.

In his initial entrance Jordan Fraser-Trumble’s meth addicted damaged soldier son Isaac maybe needs to bring more of the military in with him.   However this is a bit of a quibble from me and could seem petty.   Especially because as Isaac he claims his territory beautifully in the second act.

Harvey Zaska-Zielinski’s Max is very true to type as a transgender actor in the title role.  Another quibble - I would be really interested in seeing a little more of the teenage girl in his interpretation.

There are many memorable moments in this production that suggest how we support, effect and motivate each other is central to our wellbeing.  On the whole Hir is full of compassion.  I left the auditorium with a spring in my gait and a renewed fascination with what it is, and will be, to be human.

Expect this show to sell out quickly.

Delightfully, the opening night evening commenced with Mama Alto singing sultry love songs in the Red Stitch courtyard.  Very special!

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)

Review: Beyond the Neck: A Quartet on Loss and Violence

Beyond the Neck: A Quartet on Loss and Violence by Tom Holloway. Directed by Suzanne Chaundy. Designer – Dayna Morrissey, Lighting Designer – Richard Vabre, Sound Designer – Philip McLeod. Cast: Marcus McKenzie, Philippa Spicer, Emmaline Carroll and Roger Oakley. Red Stitch until 14 April.

  

There can be no doubt that significant courage is required to work with material as deeply disturbing as the Port Arthur Massacre. And yes perhaps “To acknowledge grief is to acknowledge love.” (Director’s program notes.)

Four actors as actors frame and, as assumed characters, re-enact in disjointed monologues form incidents, in individual lives, surrounding this profoundly traumatic event. A sense of dread and danger underlies the telling that is presented as a montage, not a narrative.

We know the basic outline of what happened at Port Arthur – it is assumed knowledge. Some would have followed it intensely and have considerable insights. Some would have been touched personally to varying degrees and some touched profoundly due to experiencing traumatic life changing events.  It is volatile material that each audience member will receive uniquely.

 

Roger Oakley, a consummate actor, shines as the Old Man. He portrays a strongly crafted archetypal character with crystal clear clarity. The Old Man, true to type, finds it extremely difficult to access his subterranean emotions. Oakley is well supported by, and supportive of, the younger cast members. Philippa Spicer presents a beautiful young wife and mother with unmitigated focus. Emmaline Carroll embraces the nuances of a petulant teenager to great effect. Marcus McKenzie valiantly bridges the difficult characters of a troubled child with an imaginary friend and the somewhat ambiguously penned character of a psychopath.

The set designed by Dayna Morrissey is stunning. With its transparent, scroll like, paintings of cliff reliefs in the foreground of a mural of the coast, and the stage areas all colours of the sea. The whole suggests dark power and timelessness. Richard Vabre’s lighting is finely tuned to enhance Ms Morrissey’s work as does the initial chilling soundscape created by Philip McLeod.

All aspects of this production meld seamlessly into a whole and towards a focused culmination that still needs some delicate fine-tuning to offer the inferred release through catharsis. As the climax is approached and themes of torture and cold blooded murder converge, the counterpoint of string music does not entirely compliment and support the rhythms and intentions of the actors. It seems to negate and distract from them, undermining their potential to affect as profoundly as they could.

This rich work has much to recommend it and on opening night was received with loud affirming enthusiasm.

Suzanne Sandow

(For Stage Whispers)