Live Acts on Stage

Four Letter Word Theatre has been the driving force behind some good and interesting theatre in recent times; however Live Acts on Stage doesn’t fall into this category.

The premise stems from Orpheus’ teaching that gods and mortals aren’t so different after all: ‘Love whatever you’re drawn to’. From here, Zeus’ desire for Ganymede, a human goatherd, incites the rage of his wife Hera. She seeks help from Eris, who agrees to join her in her revenge on the condition she’s finally freed from her torment.

With the prolific and talented young director Sara Tabitha Catchpole at the helm, this is a promising production, peppered with gasp-inducing moments of original theatricality. However, the play is mostly dominated by an inexperienced cast who, judging by the patchy (and sometimes inaudible) performances, seem to have little understanding of the style in which they are working.

Although well-known Australian playwright Michael Gow’s text is deliberately anachronistic – juxtaposing ancient myths and characters with modern day dialogue etc, there seems to have been a drastically unfortunate decision to base the acting style on naturalism. As such, the cast don’t have the ability or the experience to match the effect of either Catchpole’s vision or the legends they are trying to portray. It leaves one unsure whether or not this was meant as contrast but the result is ultimately jarring. There are also too many cast members, and it becomes confusing as to who is who very quickly, especially when many of them are playing multiple roles.

There are however, some standouts in Jan Mihal (playing Lucifier/Paris/Priest), Taryn Eva (playing Athena/Fate 2/Siren 2) and Nick Campbell (Hercules/Achilles/Jason), each giving captivating and likable performances. The set design by Robert Alexander Smith is itself a thing of beauty – sand, sails, greenery – nature as theatre and highlighted by Caitlyn Staples’ moody lighting design and Felicia King’s soundscape work to develop a strong sense of wonder.

Ultimately the question persists, what are we watching here? An adaptation or resetting? A translation? Live Acts On Stage has potential, but is altogether, unfortunately a failed experiment. That said, the show does boast the skill of a talented director and I look forward to seeing more from Sara Tabitha Catchpole in the future.  

Rating: 3 stars out of 5