Fireface explodes onto the atyp stage like a petrol bomb, forcing its audience to confront the most taboo of topics.
Kurt and Olga are teenage siblings who are determined not to grow up like their parents. Affected by the changes happening to them, they seek refuge firstly in each other’s arms; then in each other’s beds. But when Olga meets her first boyfriend, Paul, Kurt’s jealousy turns to rage and his fire-starting tendencies become an issue as he threatens to destroy their world.
Fireface is constructed of a series of 94 short vignettes, beautifully separated by foreboding musical pieces designed by Nate Edmondson. These snapshots include a series of monologues from Kurt and Olga, hers revealing her angst at she struggles with the contrast between desire to escape her child’s body and her fear of adulthood; his consisting mainly of information on bomb making, delivered in his cold monotone.
Olga is the most mercurial character in the piece; she swings from humiliated, self absorbed teenager, to incestuous temptress, eventually ending as the disturbed, manipulative partner-in-crime for her brother’s heinous actions. Darcie Irwin-Simpson – returning to atyp after receiving a best actress nomination for last year’s Punk Rock – doesn’t miss a beat in accurately portraying her deranged character, while Darcy Brown delivers an unnervingly realistic performance as the psychopathic Kurt.
Kurt and Olga’s parents aren’t exactly normal either. James Lugton’s acting skills are hardly challenged but he is believable as their middle-class engineer father, who spends most of his time reading the newspapers and obsessing over reports of the murders of local sex workers. Those who recently witnessed Lucy Miller play the landlady in The Ham Funeral may wonder if she is becoming typecast as grotesque matriarchs, yet the role here is one in which she excels, and is enjoyable to watch. As with so many interesting theatrical pairings, theirs is an unlikely match; the father’s coolness and disinterested attitude is in direct opposition to his wife’s over-sharing and demonstrative nature. Early on, after the mother finds a burnt dead bird wrapped in paper, their father dismisses the notion that they need to talk to the pyromaniac Kurt with the droll response, ‘Our son’s in puberty and the bird was dead and the newspaper’s from two weeks ago.’
Despite the dark nature of Fireface, there are many such moments of black humour, which are a credit to Maja Zade’s translation. Sixteen years after German playwright Marius Von Mayenburg wrote Fireface, its dialogue remains relevant and snappy. When Paul (Ryan Bennett) first appears on stage, it’s instantly recognisable from his manner of speaking that he’s less intelligent than Olga. He has an important role in the story, as he indirectly causes both the escalation in events and the exposition of the unusual behaviours taking place in the household.
Paul’s violent, working class upbringing invites an interesting commentary on its contrast with the liberal child-rearing approach favoured by his girlfriend’s parents; one which certainly hasn’t produced two grounded, functioning individuals. Indeed, director Luke Rogers clearly aimed to provoke difficult questions and discussions when he took on Fireface in its first Sydney production since 2001.
Themes such as incest, arson and the acceptable level of closeness in a family can make a theatre audience uncomfortable if handled badly or by a self-indulgent director. Fireface has none of these problems. A clever script delivered by an accomplished team, it will leave patrons with plenty to talk about on the way home.
Rating: 4 ½ stars out of 5
Fireface
A Stories like These production
Written by Marius Von Mayenburg
Translated by Maja Zade
Director: Luke Rogers
Producer: Peter Gahan
Designer: Lucilla Smith
Sound Designer: Nate Edmondson
Lighting Designer: Sian James-Holland
Stage Manager: Angharad Lindley
Cast: Ryan Bennett, Darcy Brown, Darcie Irwin-Simpson, James Lugton and Lucy Miller
atyp Studio 1, The Wharf, Walsh Bay.
1 – 17 August
