Urban
Theatre Projects is a company that has built a reputation over the
years for creating edgy work, by and about the groups of society
usually neglected by more traditional theatre companies. Artistic
director Alicia Talbot has a particular interest in telling the
everyday stories of these marginalised groups with a gritty, authentic
aesthetic. The Last Highway is no exception – it’s a devised
work directed by Talbot, set in the seedy world of Bankstown all-night
service stations, kebab stands and prostitution.
Therefore,
there is a strong emphasis on having the most authentic experience
possible, to bring people into this world that wouldn’t otherwise see
it. Take the location, for instance. The audience meets at Urban
Theatre Projects’ Bankstown offices, in order to catch a bus to the
venue. After a short trip, we arrive at a large hangar-type building in
an industrial area, which is divided into the foyer area and the
performance area. The set - life-size façades of a service station and
a kebab stand - is already buzzing with fluorescent light, and the
‘station attendant’ is behind his counter.
This
may seem an elaborate set-up to begin a theatre production, but the
reasons soon become clear. Once we are seated, a parade of night-time
characters begins – kebab stall owner, street sex workers, grotesque
service station attendant and cab driver interact in both hilarious and
disturbing ways. The performers (Suzannah Bayes-Morton, Kathy Cogill,
Adam Hatzimanolis, George Kanaan, Yana Taylor, Rajan Thangavelu and
Ahilan Ratnamohan), most of whom are also devisors, do an excellent job
of portraying the tangled narratives of their characters.
The
set is beautifully lit (by Mirabelle Wouters & Neil Simpson)
from the ambient lights of the service station and kebab stand which,
along with the use of several real cars, add to the piece’s
verisimilitude. The narrative unfurls in real time, exploring the ways
in which these “citizens of the night” pass the time until their shifts
end. Sometimes they help each other, and sometimes they are downright
awful to each other.
The
audience is positioned at the fourth wall, voyeurs of this suburban
wilderness and the creatures of the night that inhabit it. However,
rather than being passive observers, we are drawn into feelings of
empathy with the characters as they display their vulnerabilities. This
setting seems at once familiar and alien, with a pervasive sense of
danger and of teetering uneasily on the edge.
On
the drive home, I notice service stations and kebab stands with renewed
interest and awareness. The ‘last highway’ could be anywhere, on any of
these arterial roads, carving through the concrete landscape. Not
destinations, but thoroughfares.
Urban Theatre Projects’ THE LAST HIGHWAY
Venue: A service station in Bankstown
Rendezvous at UTP’s premises, 6-8 Old Town Plaza, Bankstown (opposite
Bankstown Train Station) for transport to venue. Buses depart at
8:30pm, return by 10:50pm. Dates/Times: January 15-19, 22-26 at 8:30pm Duration: 1hr 15mins, plus travel time Price: $40 / $30 Bookings:www.sydneyfestival.org.au or 13 2849 Information:www.sydneyfestival.org.au or www.urbantheatre.com.au
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