Play: That Eye, The Sky Playwright: Adapted by Justin Monjo and
Richard Roxburgh from Tim Winton's novel
http://www.jd-associates.com.au/authors/book/that-eye-the-sky Director: Richard Roxburgh Cast: Alan Flower, Celia Ireland, Tom Lycos, Susan Prior, Steve Rodgers,
Richard Roxburgh, Rachel Szalay,
David Wenham Venue: Playhouse, Victorian Arts Centre
Synopsis: A hippy family find religion
Rating: 5 stars
You know you have a problem when a mysterious epileptic preacher tramp turns up unannounced on your doorstep and promptly moves in.
And the plight of That Eye, The Sky's hippie family living on the Perth periphery does not stop there. As well as having to cope with the mysterious evangelist Henry (Richard Roxburgh), the clan's father, Sam (Tom Lycos), lies inert in a deep coma, requiring constant care.
His bandage wrapped body is the anchor around which turn numerous stormy elements. The mother (Rachel Szalay) must keep her family together despite poverty and isolation.
Her 12-year old son Ort (David Wenham), now recovered from meningitis, provides a beguilingly naive yet perceptive commentary on the events. Much of this play is about his difficult transition from boy to man, engaging along the way with life's perplexing paradoxes and enigmas.
The production's lyric flight takes off from Ort's interest in the sky - but this poeticised vision doesn't endear him to his taunting school mates. Steve Rodgers, for example, plays a cruel local lad who brings Ort down to earth from his astral meditations very smartly (Rodgers also, incidentally, plays a distinctly noticeable chook).
Ort's sister Teguin (Susan Prior) is a restless adolescent, frustrated by the family's apparent acceptance of religion via the preacher, and keen to explore sexuality and rebellion. Prior's energetic body language and iconoclastic refusal to accept the preacher's vision embed satisfying ignition points through the play's otherwise often dream-like atmosphere.
This production by Sydney's Burning House theatre company was jointly devised by the entire cast, led by director, actor and joint adaptor, Richard Roxburgh.
The result is a mesmeric theatrical canvas which is both stylistically innovative and powered by a strong underlying sense of Tim Winton's novel's storyline.
The story is the more haunting for set designer Gavin Barbey's ingenious incorporation of dream-like elements. A wafting, silky gauze is drawn out of a table, turning it into a raft atop undulating water.
Characters often take flight, suspended from far above by long threads. Like weightless astronauts gazing down at the planet, they acquire an entirely new perspective on events which amplifies the lyrical elements of Winton's text.
There is a tremendously muscular and inventive stagecraft at work throughout this production. Its use of ordinary objects and simple sounds in conjunction with a tight ensemble approach to create moods is reminiscent of early work by Melbourne group, Whistling in The Theatre. The allusive use of a small toy car, for example, reminds one of work by puppetry groups such as Handspan.
Yet Burning House is by no means overly derivative nor does it strain to be off-beat where such is not appropriate. The cast's physical style and resourcefulness is exactingly integrated into the work's overall structure - never incongruous nor unduly affected.
In short, strong performances (particularly by Roxburgh, Lycos and Wenham) combine with a potent directorial vision and script to make this a definite festival highlight.
А перевод! Девчонки, у меня по инглишу 3! Плиз!
- участник сейчас в Roxulariumе
