Sydney Reviews

NIDA’s 2009 graduating class production of Women Beware Women is a treat for those of us who rarely get to see local productions of works by either of the playwrights involved in this collaboration across the centuries. The original text was one of the better known plays by Thomas Middleton, a freelance contemporary of Shakespeare’s who was similarly a successful writer of both comedies and tragedies. This play was then adapted in 1984 by Howard Barker, one of Britain’s most confronting and prolific playwrights for more than thirty years, although his plays are not often performed in his homeland.

Actually, “adapted” doesn’t seem quite the right term, as what Barker essentially did was use the first two thirds of Middleton’s play and then took the storyline on to a new conclusion with his own second act. The result is an intriguing hybrid, as Barker does not attempt to mimic Middleton’s voice as a playwright but rather uses his own quite distinctly stylised, poetic idiom, unmistakable for the more ornate Jacobean lyricism. Well, that, and the brutally creative swearing are something of a giveaway…

Indeed, as one of the more emotionally and physically violent of Middleton’s tragedies, brimming with discomfiting portrayals of power, lust and protofeminist explorations, Women Beware Women must have been a natural choice for Barker’s “Theatre of Catastrophe”, his ethos of exposing audiences to an excoriating barrage of tragedy, disorientation and moral turpitude in the hopes of provoking a reexamination of their individual boundaries, values and assumptions.

With a plot concerning lust, betrayal, incest, murder, and devious machinations in the court of an arrogant, venal duke, the story is a bit like Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure on crystal meth - where love, sex, loyalty and the human capacity for cruelty get an airing that may well leave you with more a sense of shattered foreboding than catharsis. It might seem odd to think that Howard Barker of all people would change Middleton’s original blood-soaked ending to actually become less violent, but in doing so he portrays a deeper emotional violence that is all the more shocking.

This is a challenging production, and to some extent a bold, even risky choice for a show ultimately designed to display the marketability of these graduating students. For those unfamiliar with Middleton or who sometimes struggle to follow any of Shakespeare’s less-staged plays, the first act could potentially be tough going, although well worth it with a little persistence. Act II takes you to different places entirely, with some very graphic, intentionally shocking dialogue and many intense scenes of sexuality, violence, and the horrifying combination of both.

The transition is very effectively complimented by the differing treatment of the lighting (designed by Paul Yarnall), with the elegant first act looking warm and muted, as though illuminated by the many large candles that line the stage, while the harsher second act is lit by a series of cold, ugly fluorescent bars, which turn the metallic surfaces of Teresa Negroponte’s simple, evocative set from flickering ambers to severe, oily steels.

For all these differences though, it never feels as though one is watching two different plays, as the narrative and characters follow a clear progression, most of David Fleischer’s resplendent costumes carry over and, most importantly, the performances maintain a clear consistency despite the transformation that has occurred in the words they are speaking.

And what performances they are! In marked contrast to the naturalism of the other two graduate productions in this season, Middleton and Barker call for a far more theatrical style befitting the text’s heightened language and courtly setting, and these actors flourish in this milieu, giving an underlying emotional veracity to their grandiose performances. Under the expert guidance of director Kate Cherry the torrents of bile, anguish, sadism and depravity issuing forth from these commanding performances make this already confronting play all the more potent.

Although it is an altogether strong cast, particular plaudits go to Brett Rogers and Darren Sabadina as Sordino and Ward, the foppish dandies whose amoral impulses ultimately bring some terrible mayhem home to roost, and Kimberley Hews as the sardonic, grotesque Mother whose comic timing is impeccable.

They say that it’s always more fun to play a bad guy, and without a doubt the two standout performances of the show belong to its two biggest villains. Martin Harper, who impressed with his excellent comedic skills in A Journey Through the World of Molière earlier in the year, is fantastic as the sinister, utterly debauched Duke, stalking the stage with his sweeping robes and cascade of jewellry like some kind of haughty vampire, every acid line of dialogue or wicked flicker of expression a delicious manifestation of character.

Just as vile but working on an even wider range of levels is the captivating Rebecca Johnston as the despicable yet complex Livia, the master-manipulator of the whole sordid tangle of events. We see her play an impressive transition from the arch, poised noblewoman of the first act who is unleashed by her dark love affair into a rampaging, sensual creature in the second. An utterly engaging thrill-ride of a performance, Johnston all but steals the show (no mean feat amongst such a cast) with this terrific character, closing out the play amidst the devastation she has wrought with an unblinking, piercing stare straight into the audience’s doubtlessly shaken soul.

If you feel like a light, pleasant night at the theatre, this is not the play for you. But if you want an exhausting, disturbing and terrorising experience of powerhouse theatre by some very exciting new performers, this is the place to go.


NIDA 3rd Year Actors present
WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN
by Thomas Middleton and Howard Barker

Director Kate Cherry

Venue: Parade Theatres, NIDA | 215 Anzac Parade, Kensington
Dates: 10, 12-17, 19-20 October @ 7.30pm
Matinee: 10 October @ 2pm 2009
Prices: Adult $25 | Concession $15 | Groups 10+ $15
Bookings: 1300 795 012 or www.ticketek.com.au Info: www.nida.edu.au