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Photos - Jeff Busby

Watching Intimacy is very much like eavesdropping on a conversation. The show, produced by Ranters’ Theatre (Holiday, Affection), kicks off with actor Paul Lum telling the audience about a time after a bout of cabin-fever-induced loneliness, when he decided to approach strangers on the street and have conversations with them.

Directed by Adriano Cortese and starring Paul Lum, Beth Buchanan and Patrick Moffatt, the production explores the notion of intimacy unique to when two strangers come together to talk. The heart of the show presents the seemingly counterintuitive idea that we can feel more at ease in revealing our true selves to people we don’t know or may never see again, rather than to our loved ones.

Anna Tregloan’s stage, surrounded by blue curtains and filled with large boulders, is made to look like St Kilda beach, a location where Lum chats to the strangers he encounters. There he talks to people such as Russell, a 62-year-old man who has a passion for rollercoasters; a street performer known as ‘The Birdman’; and a chef plagued with insomnia.

There is an interactive element between audience and performers in Intimacy that is unlike other plays. The colloquial nature of Raimondo Cortes’ script invites the audience to be a voyeur and to listen in on the show more than watch it as each stranger/character, one by one, reveals a particular quirk or dark secret to Lum, at times with great comedic effect. More than that, the worthy performances bring the script to such remarkable and realistic life, that it is not difficult to mistake each conversation as a real-time snapshot. Admittedly, this too has its flaws as the colloquially rich show does dip into moments of rant-like chatter, which despite the fact that they wonderfully capture the realism of conversation, do tend to have a soporific effect.

The appeal of Intimacy stems from its relatable factor; it offers up a romanticised idea that most of us have experienced - that is, a sudden and unexplainable connection that we may have shared with a stranger. It is a show that provokes a certain kind of sentimentality by bringing to the stage the notion of finding beauty in the everyday details. Though it is by no means a ground-breaking piece of theatre, this does not take away from the evident merit of the production. The show is best described as pleasant, and undoubtedly endearing, and interjected with sporadic moments of hilarity. The result is an entertaining, heart-warming show about human relationships.


Malthouse Theatre & Melbourne International Arts Festival present
INTIMACY
Ranters Theatre

Director Adriano Cortese

Venue: Beckett Theatre - Malthouse
Dates: Oct 1 - Oct 23, 2010
Bookings: www.malthousetheatre.com.au