FIRE follows in the wake of WIND and EARTH, giving young creatives a theme, mentoring and then free rein in presenting their finished original piece.
FIRE’s simple narrative reflects on Leavers’ Week experiences, looking back from several years ahead, once all the school friends have gone their separate ways. Liv is presenting her first art exhibition as a “grown up artist”, with a photographer asking questions about the pictures while she takes portraits of Liv with the works. Each painting immerses Liv back into memories of the events that inspired the exhibition, touching on themes close to young people everywhere, with some particularly close for Western Australians – untimely death by drowning, betrayal of friendship, sibling conflict, fear of the future, mental illness and the riddle about the man and the elevator. Olie’s unexpected arrival at the gallery provides some answers that Liv was reluctant to share, and also finds an appropriate home for the pieces of memory on the walls.
Under the direction of Will O’Mahony, each member of the ensemble cast shone, without any single actor hogging the stage. The device of facing “absent” characters to artworks rather than disappearing backstage assisted, without being tediously overworked or cluttering the performance space. High school “types” were deployed as shorthand, from the macho footy star to the sweetly confused exchange student, but each character was allowed their own small story arc, deftly interwoven with the main narrative of celebration, conflict and tragic loss. The portrayal of April by Tess Carmody and Kat Bonny as the voice in her head gave interesting insight to the early stages of incipient mental illness. Nic Doig as Olie controlled poise and posture in repeated boy to man to boy transformations, and Violette Ayad’s Liv held the various strands of past and present narrative together with a sincere artlessness. James Taylor, as Duncan, had the audience in stitches with his portrayal of the token adult who seemed to make life interesting wherever he went, and Michael Collins and Jack Walker were believable as rival brothers, sniping away at each other.
A simple stage design was complemented by strong lighting, and the basic structure of the space allowed the actors the versatility to create their immediate environments through mutual, co-ordinated reactions, which were all done credibly. Lines were spoken clearly, and the intimate space at PICA was used to bring the audience into the action. The overlapping dialogue between parallel pairs of characters was mostly effective, with intriguing blocking choices, but the timing fell slightly awry in one late scene which left us guessing as to exactly what had been said – but the intense emotion was well-conveyed, which may have been the point of the short spell of chaotic delivery.
Again, seeing another original WAYTCo production, I feel that the future of creative performance in this State is in excellent hands.
4 stars out of 5
FIRE
7 – 14 December 2013
Presented by Western Australian Youth Theatre Company
Director: Will O’Mahony
Writers: Jessica Messenger, Geordie Crawley, Ellen O’Connor and Kane Parker
Set & Costume Designer: Patrick James Howe
Production Manager: Rhianne Perrie
Sound Designer: Will Slade
Stage Manager: Stephanie Gulev
Lighting Designer: Joe Lui
Lighting Board Operator: Meg Cousins
Sound Board Operator: Nick Ireland
Bump-In Construction: Ben Gates
Mentors: Hellie Turner, Kirsty Hillhouse and Adam Bennett
Performed by Michael Collins, Andrew Dawson, Nic Doig, James Taylor, Jack Walker, Violette Ayad, Isabelle McDonald, Emily David, Kat Bonny, Tess Carmody and Tanya Jade.
Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Perth Cultural Centre, Northbridge
