For some, the occupation of being a lighthouse keeper on a remote island, of living for months on end with nothing but routine and the company of two other men may sound rather much like a form of cruel incarceration, yet for others there is a kind of magical appeal to the prospect - a potent, romantic sense of maritime history, proud duty and ennobling solitude. A tight little three-hander, John AD Fraser’s play Rock, Paper, Scissors explores both perspectives in an engaging character piece that serves as the Tamarama Rock Surfers’ return to the Old Fitz.It is 1995 and the era of manned lighthouses is coming to a close in the face of increasing automation, but at Muckle Flugga, a bare, blasted rock in the sea that represents Scotland’s northernmost inhabited point, two keepers remain. Pat and Ronnie are lifers, but the lighthouse is no prison to them, indeed other keepers come and go, but these two have been at it for years and merely hope the Northern Lighthouse Board will allow them to stay on until they one day choose to retire. Pat is a stolid, middle-aged former teacher who sees wonder and learning to be found in everything but seems to be out here in part to escape something, and while the ex-con sailor Ronnie is similarly avoiding the world, in his case it seems more to do with his own antisocial tendencies. It evidently takes a special constitution to prefer such a life, and although Ronnie and Pat may be chalk and cheese, their love of keeping the light unites them.
However the regulations are that there must always be three keepers, and these two weather-worn old hands await the arrival of the latest in a long line of short-lived relief keepers. When Dougie is dropped off by the fortnightly mail helicopter it is immediately apparent that he will not fit in: a brash, selfish upper-middle class Gen-Xer straight out of uni with no experience at light-keeping and even less interest. Openly stating that he only intends to stay for the minimum two weeks and has no motivation other than his paycheck, young Dougie immediately gets on Ronnie’s bad side and is indifferent to Pat’s attempts to take him under his teacherly wing.
If anything is likely to escalate the situation, however, it is the peculiar ritual in which once a week the keepers use a game of rock, paper, scissors to decide who will be “king for the day” - whose rules the other two must obey, however outlandish. Pat generally just bans swearing, chooses which board games they’ll play and commands the others to do all the cleaning, but when the crown is passed on, Ronnie has some decidedly strange demands, and Dougie is just itching for his turn to be in charge and really stir things up.
If one had to pigeonhole this play into a genre it would, I suppose, be considered a comedy, but it also has some more serious and dramatic undercurrents without ever straying into the territory of dark humour or tragicomedy. At heart it is a character piece, the plot as such doesn’t really emerge until near the end and is ultimately of lesser consequence than the story of how these three very different men react to each other: two comfortably begrudging partners and the interloper who provides grist to the mill. The characters are very well drawn, each with an entirely distinctive voice and credible persona, even when played for laughs. In fact, especially when played for laughs.
Indeed, much of the humour here is character comedy, with the clash of personalities and cultures informing the jokes as well as the drama. The trio of actors are each excellent in their different ways, with Phil Spencer (who recently impressed in Bluey, his one-man show in the same venue) appropriately obnoxious whilst retaining a redeemable glimmer as Dougie, a subtle and very naturalistic performance from Rob Flanagan brings a good streak of pathos to the role of Pat, and the excellent comic timing of Sean Barker gets the bulk of the laughs as the posturing, pugnacious Ronnie.
Frequently hilarious and also quite moving, something else that this excellent production has in spades is an evocative sense of place. This is actually the third play I have seen that is set in a lighthouse, but it is the only one that ever conveyed a sense of what it is actually like to be inside the real thing - just ask my companion, a lighthouse aficionado. To begin with, this is the first time I’ve ever seen the Old Fitz’s modest performance space altered to include a full set (rather than just dressing the existing features) with a curved, accurately-textured wall simply but very effectively depicting the lighthouse interior and, with the help of clever lighting motifs such as projecting the pattern of the lantern room windows, economically doubling as several different rooms.
But perhaps most impressive was the use of excellent sound design by Jeremy Silver, which used effects such as howling winds, divebombing gannets, rolling storms, passing helicopters and deafening foghorns to create a truly immersive sense of place. Complemented by some wonderful attention to detail (such as accurate letterhead on barely-seen props) this deceptively simple production under the economical direction of Leland Kean is a strong piece of quality independent theatre.
Tamarama Rock Surfers presents
Rock, Paper, Scissors
by John AD Fraser
Director Leland Kean
Venue: Old Fitzroy Theatre | Cnr Cathedral St and Dowling St Woolloomooloo
Dates: 30 July – 22 August 2009
Previews: 30 July – 2 August
Opening Night: 4 August
Times: Tues-Sat, 8pm and Sunday 5pm
Tickets: $29 Full, $21 Concession, $35 Beer, Laksa and Show (plus BF)
$17 Preview and Cheap Tuesday, $25 Beer, Laksa and Show (plus BF)
Bookings: www.rocksurfers.org OR 1300 438 849 OR box office 75 mins prior to performance
