John Shrimpton and Emily Rose BrennanAll his life, it seems, Fish has been a fighter. Forced into underground boxing by his father as a mere child, Fish grows into a young man with an explosive temper and not a lot of brains, although one wonders in his case just how much is the egg and how much the chicken. Perpetually in and out of juvie and then prison, the only thing Fish knows how to do is fight, and he doesn’t even seem especially good at it, being a copious bleeder who never heeds his coaching. It’s all Fish’s little brother Duffy can do to patch him up and try to keep him out of trouble, tasks which generally prove impossible.
There is only one thing in Fish’s life which is not consumed by blood, pain and rage, and that is the tenderness shown him by Cherry, an upbeat, eccentric homeless girl he meets by the river when they are both children. Unfortunately, as time goes on, Cherry becomes all the more emotionally dependent while Fish is never going learn to control himself and stop getting into trouble, so something’s got to give…
Cherry Smoke is a new(ish) play by James McManus, currently receiving simultaneous local debuts in Sydney and New York, having previously received the 2006 Princess Grace Award for playwrighting and had a production in Edinburgh. Seeking to elevate a fairly prosaic story into a more poetic realm, it is a work that delves into the lives of the down-and-out, those so financially and culturally disenfranchised that the characters exist just marginally on either side of homelessness, scrounging to make some kind of life for themselves on the margins of Dustbowl, USA.
One of the real strengths of the production is its timelessness. A persistent folly of our modern theatre is the compulsion to always require works to be either “relevant” or “timeless” – heaven forbid that an audience might find some meaning or experience some identification with a bygone era... And yet, putting this pet peeve aside, there is something very skilled about a play such as this which manages to be genuinely timeless without appearing selfconsciously so, having the ability to strike home emotionally without any (potential) distancing effect. By omitting any particularly noteworthy references to technology, politics or popular culture, this tale could almost be taking place anywhere from the 1920s to the present day.
As far as the narrative itself goes, it is a surprisingly contemplative play for a story about an underground boxer with a hair-trigger. It is definitely about the characters and their inner lives rather than a particular course of events. There are a couple of plot developments to be sure, but only to further fuel the angst. Indeed, one’s depth of connection to this material will depend very much on personal responses to the characters, as the story itself seems quite familiar, and its conclusion fairly predictable. If perhaps McManus actually intends us to anticipate this ending, then unfortunately its looming inevitability seems more obvious than ominous.
This lack of a driving sequence of events contributes to the play’s main shortcoming, which is a sense of overlength. For a relatively slow build with a lot of digression, the two-act play might slightly overstay its welcome for some. Not to suggest for a moment that it should abandon its languid pace for a more (pardon the pun) punchy approach, merely that the play seems to have a bit more content than it actually needs. Without sacrificing its melancholic style or leisurely pace, Cherry Smoke would probably have been improved by being trimmed down to a single act.
All that being said, it is a solid play, and a more than solid production. A simple, grubby set (designed by Jess Giraud) strewn with a filthy mattress, a collapsed girder and strung across with drooping cables, nicely evokes small-town decay. However, it is undoubtedly the cast who sells this, NIDA grads one and all. As the play jumps between past and present, each actor is required to alternate between adolescent and young adult versions of their character, and each handles this distinction well.
Emily Rose Brennan is excellent as the quirky and progressively unsettling Cherry, managing to bring variable strains of charm, pathos, sexiness, vulnerability and ultimate desperation to the character, making it a cohesive portrayal that avoids falling afoul of the clichéd ticks one is often subjected to in “crazy” acting.
Ivan Donato is as impressive as always in the part of Duffy, the somewhat downtrodden straight-man of the piece with the fewest personal demons and perhaps as a result becomes the crutch most often leant upon by the others. Displaying the greatest distinction between his child and adult personae, Donato delivers a compelling performance of what might seem superficially to be the least interesting role.
Cherry’s friend and Duffy’s wife, Bug is a character with her own tragedy, being a nurturing soul with no wish other than motherhood and yet cruelly denied it. Julia Ohannessian plays the role with a light touch that makes her part’s lows all the more wrenching.
In the central role of Fish, we have John Shrimpton who, although certainly not the strongest actor of the quartet, clearly gives his all and manages to imbue the character with enough menace and sympathy to hold his own amongst his peers. Although one can’t help but wonder if he was cast chiefly for his bulging physique (indeed, he performs the entire role shirtless), Shrimpton compensates with considerable physical and emotional energy and is ultimately quite convincing as the brooding, dysfunctional bruiser.
Cherry Smoke may not quite be the revelation that its accolades would suggest, but it is strong, solid human drama nonetheless, and worth seeing for its talented ensemble.
CHERRY SMOKE
by James McManus
Venue: The Old Fitzroy Theatre | Cnr. Cathedral + Dowling St, Woolloomooloo
Dates: Feb 10 – 28,
Times: Tue-Sat 8pm, Sun 5pm.
$21/$29 or $35 beer laksa & show.
Previews Feb 5th, 6th, 7th 2 tix for $29
$17 or $25 beer, laksa & show
Cheap Tuesdays
$17 or $25 beer, laksa & show
www.rocksurfers.org 1300-GET-TIX (1300-438-849)
