The oft-told story of the child star veering violently off the rails isn’t new, but is timely and solid enough for playwright Declan Greene to use as a basis for the startling, jarring production of Pompeii, L.A, the Malthouse Theatre’s only wholly original piece of new Australian writing on the main stage this season.
Starting appropriately in Judy Garland’s dressing room, the pandemonium of Pompeii, L.A. begins with the simple hand tremors of the makeup artist who is attending her. She shakes with nerves, and this shake is the catalyst for the rest of the production, which quickly builds to a mess of chaos and trauma, addled with pop culture references and feeling like David Lynch turned up to 11.
There is no linear plot structure in Pompeii, L.A., with scenes melding quickly between car crashes, hospitals, back stage and film sets. By structuring the work this way, Greene and director Matthew Lutton have, together with designer Nick Schlieper, created a lurid, grating version of the City of Angels, highlighting the social dysfunction and hypocrisy of a place that is ostensibly about big dreams but largely underpinned by the failed ambitions of past and future generations.
The stage design is lavish yet industrial, with lighting, sound and even the smell of a trailer truck making it a fully immersive experience, even if the olfactory element was unintentional. The ostentatious grimy gleam of L.A. is fully reflected here, with falling glass, shocking panel lighting and a crashed car offset by simply staging, such as a clothes rack and plain chairs.
The performances are solid, with Belinda McClory as Judy a definite highlight. Anna Samson and David Harrison make their Malthouse Theatre debuts here, with Samson strong to begin with as the hopeful makeup artist and then transforming to a helpless actress. Harrison rounds out perfectly the final stages as the child star, playing out the death knells of his life as he knew it.
You might say that Pompeii, L.A. isn’t all that enjoyable to watch. Despite the snappy and often hilarious dialogue and the strong performances, the structure of the piece is harsh and deliberately pokes and prods its audience.
But it is certainly a weighty and strong piece of theatre that leaves you thinking for days afterwards – a mark of a good piece of art. Ultimately, Pompeii, L.A. is a successful comment on the consumerism becoming unsustainable, the TV family that is more important than the real family, and the perils of superficiality and greed encapsulated in Los Angeles.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Malthouse Theatre presents
Pompeii, L.A.
By Declan Greene
Directed by Matthew Lutton
Set & Lighting Design: Nick Schlieper
Costume Design: Mel Page
Composition and Sound Design: David Franzke
Performed by David Harrison, Belinda McClory, Tony Nikolakopoulos, Luke Ryan, Anna Samson and Greg Stone
Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne
16 November – 9 December
