Sweet Road - Melville Theatre Company (17 May 2024)

The road movie has been a staple of cinema for decades. From Easy Rider to Thelma and Louise and Little Miss Sunshine with notable Australian contributions such as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the Mad Max franchise, and WA’s own Last Cab To Darwin by playwright/screenwriter Reg Cribb. It’s a genre that emphasises themes of self-discovery, freedom, and transformation that comes more from the journey than the destination. But given its reliance on wide open spaces and continuous movement from place to place how does one translate that effectively onto the stage?

Director Vanessa Jensen’s answer is to quite ingeniously use dual revolving sets, minimal props, and evocative lighting and sound design to represent the various vehicles and stops along the way. Debra Oswald’s play feels very filmic in its origins so the fading out from a scene on one of the revolving sets to the adjacent one is the equivalent of a movie transition as we cut from location to location.  This works well though the timing of the lights down on one revolve and lights up on the other might have been executed more crisply to maintain that illusion. The downstage area is utilised when more movement is required in a scene or where characters’ stories, particularly in the second half, intersect. 

Lighting Designer Lars Jensen provides the colour palette that creates the bright sunlight of regional Australia, twilight at a caravan park, or the harshness of a payphone at a roadhouse. Sound Designer Alan Gill fleshes out the world with everything from native birdlife, the cacophony of the road, snippets of radio broadcasts, and a feature of most road stories - music. The elements also play a key role in the second half of the story with rain effects teasing our imagination with swollen rivers and flooded roads. The combination of lighting and sound reaches a zenith at a critical moment towards the end of the first half where a life-changing moment is shockingly depicted. 

The story itself takes its characters on a journey, physically but, far more importantly, one of growth and renewed perspective. Jo (Madelaine Page) is running away from her husband's betrayal; Carla (Jackie Oates) and Andy (Brian O'Donovan) head north seeking new opportunities; Michael (Christopher Hill) hides from a personal tragedy he cannot process; Frank (Gino Cataldo) is stuck in a kind of stasis after his wife's death; and Yasmin (Jessica Palokangas) hitchhikes towards the thrill of young love. Some characters will meet and affect the trajectory of each other's journey in varying ways as will the harsh Australian landscape. 

Page plays the city dwelling wife who is devastated on seeing her husband kissing another woman with a brittleness that is understandable and relatable. Her Jo flees the city totally unprepared for the travails of the road where she picks up the hitchhiking Yasmin and, later, meets the profoundly damaged Michael. These interactions will sponsor a change in Jo's own self-worth as Page subtly moves her from impulsive angst (the trip to dry lake) to a far more kindly presence to herself and others. 

Oates gives her frazzled mother and wife Carla a real Ocker tone with undercurrents of despair and cynicism. She will do anything to protect her (never seen) children and creates that relationship with gusto. Unable to deal with husband Andy's own worst impulses, Carla discovers genuine empathy and purpose in the generosity of the older widower Frank. Oates exuding optimism as Carla sits behind the wheel at the end is a delight.

O'Donovan's Andy is certainly a handful with an endless optimism and lack of impulse control when it comes to gambling. He plays the character with no off switch and while we sense the love for Carla and the kids, we also understand how grating Andy must be. O'Donovan has fun interacting with Browndog, the best invisible dog performance I've (not) seen! 

Christopher Hill has perhaps the most notable arc with Michael who is almost comatose with grief in the first half. A strapping lad, the withdrawn presence is an extreme counterpoint to the larger performances in other strands. His monologue about the source of his grief is devastating and Hill imbues the character with concern and a hint of life after meeting Jo.    

Likewise Cataldo's Frank is revitalised after meeting Carla and finally undertakes the canoe trip he always wanted to do. Interestingly, Palokangas' dreamy portrayal of young love turns into something more muted as realism sets in. 

Charlie Young plays another kind of passenger in Curtis who is an opportunist and catalyst for Carla's break with Andy. Young has some lovely understated moments stuck between the bickering couple before exploding into fidgety action. 

The cast is rounded out by Laura Mercer as a not smug (maybe sometimes) Policewoman; Clare Talbot's salt of the earth Mechanic; and Michele Sharp's bemused Receptionist. 

Sweet Road is a play that grew on me as the various story strands contrasted and then complemented each other. All the characters change - most for the better, some in less happy ways. The coming of rain in the second half brings with it a certain cleansing and different kind of flow to the road. The use of the revolves mean that scene transitions move quickly and smoothly. The recreation of time and place is well done with mention to the costumes by Michelle Sharp and use of road maps in pre-smartphone days. All the characters are clearly delineated but their arcs are cleverly intertwined and realised. I loved the authenticity of stories about childhood holidays to caravan parks and the early morning excitement of such trips. A lovely addition to the road trip canon. 

Sweet Road is on at the well appointed new home of the Melville Theatre Company - The Main Hall, Melville Civic Centre - until Saturday 25 May. 

Time After Time - FiFi Productions (6 April 2024)

Two people meet for the first time. There is a shared interest, a spark, an attraction. That attraction grows into something far more but is cruelly torn apart by circumstances outside of the couple's control. Loss follows. But what if these two people - these two souls - were always meant to be together no matter what obstacles the universe throws in their path? 

This is the premise for the one act play Time After Time written by Fiona Blakely who also directs with fellow 'Fi', Fiona Wildsmith. It explores soulmates, the possibility of reincarnation, that feeling of deja vu you sometimes get when meeting someone new, and, perhaps most of all, what would you risk to be with your soulmate even if you knew the possible consequences. 

We first meet our fated couple on Platform 3 of the Perth Train Station prior to the First World War. Johnathon, a wharfie played by Alan Gill, waits for a mate arriving from Fremantle. Olive, a writer and dreamer played by Jaimee Peasley, is going to Kojonup to find a husband. It's a perfectly lovely encounter that becomes something more when a young Scallywag (Thomas Ranieri) being chased by a Train Conductor (Matthew Mckail) bumps into Olive causing the contents of her suitcase to cascade to the ground. Johnathon innocently retrieves a journal of Olive's stories and drawings. From there they bond over a shared love of the Bronte Sisters. But would that have happened without the Scallywag's intervention?

The result of that initial meeting plays out in a filmed montage where Johnathon waits at the train station for Olive to return, their courtship, and eventual marriage. We then return to live action as Johnathon is about to go to war. Their separation is painful as the horror of the "Great War" hovers over the couple. Archival footage of the war reveals Johnathon's fate and a filmed scene shows Olive's devastation on receiving the news of his death. 

The play then jumps forward to the second of four stanzas where Jimmy, a trade unionist, meets Oli, a secretary with a knack for editing her employer's copy. Again we're on Platform 3 and disaster looms in the form of the Second World War. We'll also meet Jack and Olivia in a time of civil unrest as the Vietnam War unfolds, and eventually end up with Jackson and Liv in the present day. These interactions play out in slightly different fashion and take on the characteristics of their time in terms of language, costume, attitude, and mood. 

It becomes clear that the 'Olive incarnation' has some sense of the feeling of repeated loss and actively pushes the 'Johnathon incarnation' away in the Vietnam stanza breaking the loop of tragedy but at the cost of time shared together. The final stanza changes the equation yet again as Liv makes a decision that may change their fate or might indeed reconstitute the loop they have found themselves in. The romantic will favour the former; the cynic might wonder if this is a tragedy after all. 

There is a distinct structure and rhythm to each of these four sections. The scene is set with wonderful archival footage of the period in question projected on a screen at the rear of the stage. Then there is the 'meet cute' on the platform in live action followed by filmed sequences of the couple together as their relationship deepens. We rejoin the actors onstage for a separation sequence where they're caught up in the maelstrom of impending war with more archival footage that shows its conclusion. 

A lot of love, care, and attention to detail has gone into the creation and staging of this production. The costumes, wigs and props are all excellent and clearly reflect the distinct time periods. The set design is simple but effective - a bench and old-fashioned wooden display showing a clock and the stations along the Fremantle line. The use of archival footage to set time and place is spot on (Film Edit & Music Isobel Blakely) and the filmed sequences (DOP Madyson Dewar) between Gill and Peasley showcase various local locations and are an effective shorthand to exploring a relationship in a condensed fashion. Sound and Lighting Design by Tendekai Mafukidze and Felicia Tang respectively provides mood and context.

The performances by Alan Gill and Jaimee Peasley, however, are the lynchpin to making the premise work. They effectively create distinctive characters in the different time periods while imbuing each incarnation with a recognisable essence - Johnathon/Jimmy/Jack/Jackson predominantly helps others (trade unionist, nurse) with a working class vibe (wharfie) while Olive/Oli/Olivia/Liv is more a free spirit (dreamer, writer, peace activist) with a creative bent. Their interactions both onstage and onscreen are charming. It's also an interesting mix of acting styles - Gill is the more theatrical while Peasley has a naturalistic approach from an extensive film background. 

The one thing I did wonder about was the nature of their connection. It was pitched more as "do I know you?" rather than two soulmates immediately recognising each other. But that may be a strength of the writing here because I've been mulling the possibilities ever since - are they doomed to never truly be together? Forces seem determined to place them in the same orbit but the universe continually works to pull them apart. If they are reincarnations are they doomed to never grow old? We know how one character dies in some of the stanzas but how did the other die before they could be reunited? Who or what exactly are the Scallywag and his modern day version, Eshay (Anthony Ranieri), who nudge the outcome in a certain direction? 

It reminds me of an underrated film that I love with a similar idea, The Adjustment Bureau, where Matt Damon's character defies preordained fate to make his own destiny with Emily Blunt's character. They don't quite stick the landing on that one but it's also a fascinating exploration of a love that defies the universe or whatever word you might choose to use for a greater power. 

Time After Time is a charming and intriguing production at Byford Secondary College for 4 more performances on 12-14 April with a matinee on 7 April.