Short & Sweet: Newtown Wildcards Week 1

A short (yet sweet) look at the wild cards this week.

 

Newtown Theatre, Sydney
Short and Sweet Wildcards 1

Saturday, 9 January, 2010 (3pm)

Wearing The Veil (People’s choice winner)
Writer Rosemary Chance tackles the subject of muslim women and Australian
reactions to the clash of cultures when neither side really understands
the other. Director Denise Sivasubramaniam had the characters change clothes-
literally putting the two girls in each others’ shoes.
Michelle Cameron gave a spirited rendition of an Australian girl who
describes young women wearing the muslim veil as an “attack on us”. Marisaic
Reynaga portrayed the muslim girl with a quiet dignity. The play was unbalanced,
lacking dramatic tension and inappropriately finishing with a “happy Ending” on a complex subject.

Snowflakes
Could you as a mother of a young child stay pen friends with a convicted paedophile? Writer Emma Gibson does a good job of gradually revealing the moral challenges this particular friendship faces. Ed, (Julian Ramundi) and Gina (Liliya May) have not been in contact for 10 years. When Ed Contacts Gina by letter he reveals he had been to the
middle east fought the Taliban, suffered post traumatic stress disorder and is now in gaol awaiting trial. Gina meanwhile has become engaged and believes Ed to be a good person, however she finds it hard to reconcile this feeling with the fact that he is subsequently convicted for for possessing child pornography. This discomfort increases on both sides ten fold when she marries and reveals she is pregnant. Director Liam Macdonald delicately portrays the increasing social and moral distance,with both actors competently
communicating the deterioration of a relationship.

Unchained Melody  
Melody (Fleur Beaupert) is in the midst of a mental breakdown. She is confined to some kind of institution and suffering huge mood changes which make her uninhibited and able to voice some things which would normally not be said. She seems to be be trying to convince her visitor (Lauren Augarten) that she might enjoy some madness for a change. She states “you look like you talk- lifeless” and suggests her visitor (who adopts the role of therapist) pick someone up in a bar and have meaningless sex in order to sort herself out.
There were some good lines in this random piece from Donna Brightwell (the clay pot was never explained!) but director Robert Graham telegraphed the switch at the end early on by the visitor’s constant obsession with straightening the bed clothes.

Waylaid in Wynyard
The Church of Christ is like a conglomerate of all the evangelistic and cult religions where followers are made dependent and obedient. Mary, (Sheree Atkins) is the overbearing American proselytising with her downtrodden apprentice Peter (Anthony Darvall) to a wayward soul at Wynyard- Saul (Matt Burke). Of the three Saul (beautifully characterised by Burke) seems most at peace with himself and his existence. He also seems more interested in Peter than salvation. When Mary discovers Saul survives through
providing sexual services to men she turns on him and denigrates his existence. Saul says to Peter “You can only choose if you are free”. Writer/Director Michael McCrann allows for the battle over Peter to develop, with a little biblical quoting duel which became a pretty obvious tug between Mary and Saul for Peter’s soul. In the end Peter is the one who screams for them to stop messing with his life.

The Brothers Grey (Judges winner)
Sonal Moore’s play was a refreshing black comedy about a relationship between brothers and what happens when the parents die and families have to deal with all the property and money issues. Sean (Gavin Williams) is packing up the goods from their parents’
home, where he was living in preparation to move out as his older brother Josh (Jim Gosden) has made him sell the home. It transpires Sean has sold their father’s wine collection and the beloved monaro in order to do up the house for sale. Josh takes great umbrage at not being consulted and at the money spent on the renovations. Sean argues Josh has never kept in contact, never been interested in him and never even asked where he would be living in future. As it turns out Sean isn’t moving as he has bought the newly renovated family home with money from a computer program he coded. Director Con Nats keeps the pace moving in this twisty piece and the actors play with relish the somewhat estranged brothers. The only things which blight the whole is the fact that Josh looks more like Sean’s father than brother and the ending (with Sean willing to share the house with his brother) seems out of character and a recipe for disaster rather than a solution to Josh’s money problems.