Photos – Pia JohnsonEerie re-working of an Australian mystery
A school excursion on St Valentine’s Day 1900 for a group of young ladies from Appleyard College is a great treat, and the girls dress up in white dresses and all the accoutrements expected of the time. A dreamy summer’s afternoon, with a sense of time vanishing when nobody has a working watch on them, entices some of the schoolgirls up to Hanging Rock itself. That afternoon, only one girl returns, with a school teacher also disappearing. Every attempt to find them only leads to more mystery and confusion, with lingering effects for the people left behind.
Joan Lindsay’s 1967 novel and the 1975 Peter Weir film based on the creepy classic about missing Victorian schoolgirls have become part of the Australian cultural consciousness. Director Matthew Lutton keeps the setting of this stage adaptation of the book simple, the staging and costuming consistent and flexible enough to frame the many twists and turns of the tale’s developments. Starting with a straight line up of prim and proper schoolgirls in their uniforms, the straight to audience delivery of Tom Wright’s script is faithful to the novel’s expressions and word play, each performer delivering a range of characters as well as the narration. In this manner the events of the Valentine’s Day outing are addressed matter of factly, efficiently and strongly establishing the mannerisms of the various characters.
Only in the announcement of the disappearance does the performance drop into a more conventional scene by scene approach, following the assorted unfolding dramas. Taking a cue from the novel, the use of surtitles to establish chapter headings during the course of the acting is a helpful guide.
The five actors are confident and precise, producing great ensemble scenes together, delivering static declamations as compelling drama. Elizabeth Nabben plays Madame Appleyard’s subtle unravellings with aplomb and consistent, believable accent work. Harriet Gordon-Anderson’s Albert is direct and good-humoured, as well as bringing elegant compassion in her portrayal of Mademoiselle. Amber McMahon brings Michael to life as a confused young man, adrift in a strange land and yet more driven than anyone else to find the missing girls. Nikki Shiels has many fine moments, particularly her wonderful comic timing as a traumatised Irma attempting small talk over a cup of tea. Arielle Gray plays Sara with wonderful physicality, impeccable facial timing and impressive vocal control. Gray contorts spectacularly, presenting Sara’s inability to fit into the Appleyard expectations in a comic but graphic display, complemented by her edge of hearing murmurings with exquisite timing and sudden moments of soft clarity for emphasis.
Paul Jackson’s lighting design works with the off-kilter starkness of the stage to set scenes, from an awkward conversation in a posh garden over cups of tea to a vivid dream in a stable, from a night-time baffling search of Hanging Rock to the increasingly desperate Mrs Appleyard’s domain of the College. Zoë Atkinson keeps things simple with a stage design featuring an empty corner of a large room and a large bundle of dried branches suspended above the stage, allowing the actors and lighting to set the locations with minimal technical disruption. Atkinson’s costume design eschews the flowing white dresses of the novel and film, opting for modern school uniform designs that are modified over the course of the performance.
Ash Gibson Grieg’s musical composition is wonderful, ramping up the atmosphere. While the snippets of intense sound between scenes seem a little overplayed in the early parts, as more is revealed and or obscured, the pace and content of the script and acting start to match the intensity of the soundtrack and the other elements of J. David Franzke’s sound design.
In the best tradition of this Australian classic, the mystery of where Miranda and her friends might have gone is never directly addressed, but hints abound in the richly woven narrative with its musings on time, place and possibilities for other existences. Lutton presents a performance with more questions than answers, loaded with clues that point in different directions for each audience member to create their own hypotheses, and to keep us all thinking and remembering long after the final bows.
Black Swan State Theatre Company Malthouse Theatre present
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Adapted by Tom Wright from Joan Lindsay’s novel
Directed by Matthew Lutton
Venue: Heath Ledger Theatre, State Theatre Centre of WA
Dates: 1 – 17 April 2016
Bookings: www.bsstc.com.au
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