Who can resist two for the price of one? And two plays from Subtlenuance, a small, fiercely independent company of proven integrity, hold twice the promise. Happily, that promise is, as usual and previously documented in these pages, substantially realised. I say company, but Subtlenuance is, in essence, the dynamic duo of Daniela Giorgi and Paul Gilchrist, creative and life partners. This time 'round, they've shared writing responsibilities, with Ms Giorgi penning the first of these one-acters, Gilchrist, the second; while Gilchrist has directed both.
The set is starkly white, with but a stool, bookshelf and lamp; also white. It's like an ad for Omo. Or Perisher. But this is a stark play. Sam and Kate play games, challenging each other with difficult, hypothetical choices, perhaps to distract from the difficult choices they face in real life. Sam seems driven; anxious to fulfil the conventional, suburban dream. he's practical and like to get on with life. But Kate gets stuck, as her mind whirs with larger questions. Why her? Why is she so lucky? Why is she one of the privileged billion, that have so much more than the rest?
The crunch comes when, having been bullied into engagement, she suspects her twelve-thousand-dollar ring might contain a conflict diamond, sold to finance African warlords. So she throws it off the Manly ferry. As you do. Well, as she did. Sam's challenge is to understand, forgive and transcend this eccentric behaviour. Will he? Or won't he?
Sam deals with life's uncertainties by constantly moving. He makes decisions and moves forward. He's the ostrich some of us will recognise. Perhaps in ourselves. More likely in others. For him, there are only the quick and the dead and he doesn't even want to think about the dead. He doesn't have time. Kate, on the other hand, can't get excited about the things we're s'posed to get excited about. Getting engaged. Married. Having babies. Buying a home. Try as she might. She's too preoccupied with washing her hands; plagued, tormented and torn by middle-class guilt; a chardonnay socialist who needs to drink more chardonnay. Like Woody Allen, the very idea of even one person starving puts a crimp in her day.
In the troubled interplay and dissonances between Sam & Kate, there's plenty or room to examine priorities in our own lives. This is a tightly-written, tautly-performed, visceral, accessible piece that can hardly fail to engage the conscience, as it questions the primary disease that infects our society: mindless materialism. The key question here is, 'are we good people?'; rather than, 'what will we acquire next?'
Performances, by Jo Richards and Lucas Connolly are outstanding, if slightly exaggerated. But the exaggeration works, as these are, perhaps, not so much intended as believable characters, but composites, mirrors, in which we can see ourselves or, at least, parts of ourselves. One had the feeling, too, a certain amount of spontaneity prevailed, which further energised the work.
Lighting is as minimal as the set. In short, all elements work hand-in-hand to achieve that in which far too few plays succeed: throwing focus on and giving maximal impetus to writing and acting; the heart and soul of any drama.
Two Gates pares things back even further. Heidi Lupprian is it. Everything and everyone with which and who she interacts is imagined; richly, thanks to her artful evocations of people and things. She is on a journey. A journey away from the familiar, resented and reviled. A journey into herself and the world at large. An unromantic journey to Europe. She passes through her front gate. Through the airport security gate. And, finally, through the gates of Auschwitz. After the last, doors open and close within her. Gilchrist (once again) shows himself to be a deft writer of comedy, but one enviably able to shift from a laugh a minute to the depths of poignancy; unselfconsciously and believably.
There were, for me, some gaps and 'jumpcuts' in the fabric of the narrative, but this was small beer given the affecting humanity and emotional sophistication of the work. And Lupprian's near-flawless onewomanship was well beyond engaging; it was spellbinding. That such a young actor should have such command and surefootedness is breathtaking. Incidentally, her singing voice also lives up to that adjective: the Yiddish song, Nit Zukh Mikh (the famous love song otherwise known as Mayn Rue Plats, or My Resting Place, by sweatshop poet, Morris Rosenfeld), is exquisitely woven into the piece and perhaps the last word, albeit in translation, should go to a verse from it.
Don't look for me where fountains spray.
You will not find me there, my beloved.
Where tears flow and teeth gnash,
There is my resting place.
Both plays had lines any ambitious writer would wish they'd written. In fact, it's pretty much true of both plays in their entirety. Both augur well, not only for Subtlenuance's future as a distinctive, important, independent voice in Australian theatre, but for the future of Australian theatre at large. And nothing could be more important than that, particularly at a time when there's been far too much reason for pessimism.
subtlenuance presents
Talc & TWO GATES
Two new Australian plays about redemption
Venue: TAP Gallery, 278 Palmer Street, Darlinghurst.
Dates: July 14 – Aug 1, 2010
Times: Tuesday to Saturday 8pm, Sunday 5pm
Tickets: $25 / $20, Tuesdays – pay what you can (min $12)
Bookings: 0403 762 212 or
Visit: www.subtlenuance.com
