Dangerous Lenses

Dangerous Lenses is a new work by The Impending Room, a small independent theatre company based in Sydney. The production is focused upon the central character of Ann (Meredith Penman), who lives alone in a block of flats. She is obsessed with viewing her neighbours and interacting with them without personal contact. A man moves into the flat across from her with a little girl; naturally she is caught up with excitement of a new neighbour—different from Miss Credit Card, Miss Agrophobia or Hairbrush Singer. But when this new neighbour denies the existence of his daughter, Ann is concerned: is something sinister at work in this neighbourhood community?

Playwright Brooke Robinson has crafted a powerful one-woman show that examines our world of close proximity and false knowledge.  Inspired by Ann Manne’s essay in The Monthly, Ebony: The girl in the room—a grisly examination into the isolated life and death of a dehumanised seven-year-old girl—this performance has a disturbing premise hyped up with heavy rhythm inspired by Waldrops’ poem, In A Doorway.

The fast-paced dialogue is executed perfectly by the highly experienced Penman, but there are many hiccups when it comes to lines. On opening night—just before entering the performance space at The Substation—the show’s director announces that Penman has just stepped into the role, as the original actress could not attend the show’s Melbourne Fringe tour. The director’s announcement was clearly a warning that there would be some performance issues. As an audience member, it’s something you really don’t want to hear—especially if you’ve paid for a ticket. The performance issues unfortunately did undermine what could have been an excellent performance; Penman asked for line prompts at least ten times that interrupted the flow of the performance.

In saying that, the actress was professional throughout, remained in character at all times, and should be commended on her control of the piece. Penman provides an emotional depth to the character of Ann, builds an intimate connection with the audience and her use of the performance space is creative.

Tying in with this use of space is the eerie and minimal sound design by Ekrem Mulayim, which strongly add to the mood and tone of the piece. Christopher Page’s lighting also works well, as Ann shifts from different settings and her vision begins to deteriorate. However, I feel that there should have been more darkness in the performance, and perhaps a pink tint should have been provided to match Ann’s obsession over the detail of the little girl’s pink dress—an elusive colour attached to the girl that drives Ann to breaking point.

Brooke Robinson is definitely a playwright to keep an eye on, a suggestion backed up by her writing history. Involved with Fresh Ink, a development program for emerging playwrights, in 2011, and the recipient of a $9775 ArtsGrant in March 2012 from the Australian Council, Robinson certainly seems to have a promising future ahead of her as a creator of intriguing theatre.

Rating: 3 ½ stars

Melbourne Fringe Festival
www.melbournefringe.com.au
18 September – 6 October