This, of course, gives the director, actors, and the design
team a great deal of freedom in how to present and interpret this mass of
information. It also makes things a little problematic from an audience
perspective. You quickly come to realise that there isn’t going to be any kind
of traditional narrative. I could sit here and try and draw thematic threads
out of it all and certainly there are touchstones such as fidelity, memory, childhood
and the like. But really, for me, this was like a collection of audition scenes
or, perhaps more aptly, a Showcase on Speed.
Once I realised this I settled into enjoying the production
for what it was instead of trying to analyse it to determine what it might have
been. The Showcase analogy seems most appropriate and certainly this was an
excellent introduction into the performance and technical capabilities of this
year’s Curtin University students. Izzard keeps things rattling along as scenes
follow each other in rapid succession or even overlap briefly as the actors
rotate through scenarios and personas with alacrity.
For the first time that I have seen, the black box space of
the Hayman Theatre Upstairs was transformed with a built in set – white flats
on three sides with three doors that were used with dizzying frequency. There
were also white blocks that increased in number throughout the performance
until there were fully a dozen on stage. The actors added to and changed their configuration
to provide the basic setting of whatever situation they found themselves in.
This was enhanced by use of projected images and the title of the scene. Those
titles most often than not were a single word. The lighting and sound design
added the final layer with the impressive use of lasers at one point and
everything from pumping dance music to static as transitions took place.
This all created a vibrant space for the actors to work in
and they used it to maximum effect. Those eight actors are Lauren Beeton,
Declan Brown, Eloise Carter, Chelsea Gibson, Anna Lindstedt, Holly Mason,
Nelson Mondlane, and Jess Nyanda Moyle. It was a very good ensemble with each
actor having to inhabit a range of vastly different characters and make them
believable in very short time spans. I also appreciated the physicality
involved as different combinations of actors clambered over each other and
those blocks or were dancing, at times full tilt. One of the standout scenes
simply called Wife involved Moyle and
Brown in a ballet like sequence of intense emotion and intimacy that utilised
all of the stage to stunning effect.
That, however, is where the success or otherwise of the play
as a collection of fractured parts rests. Scenes work better than others
to highlight the talents on display. Some are no more than brief
interludes that whizz by before the next vignette begins. Like any audition
piece it’s the selection of the material that goes a long way to determining
the outcome. Every actor has a chance to shine and it’s very much an equal
opportunity piece from that regard.
From an audience viewpoint it probably ended at about the
right time as I was beginning to weary of the conceit. There was no connective
tissue and no one thread or character I could hang my hat on. As a true
showcase of acting and technical ability, however, it certainly set the scene nicely for
what should be another strong season for Curtin’s Hayman Theatre Company.
Love and Information is being performed at the Hayman Theatre Upstairs on
the Curtin University campus until Saturday 5th March.
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