It’s not hard to see why superheros are so popular. They capture the imagination with their godly abilities. They inspire us with their quest for good, against unsurmountable odds. They allow us mere mortals to play out our fantasies in comical style (and fashionable attire). And they achieve this by tapping into a fundamental characteristic which we all share – our deeply flawed humanity.
The common theme in a superhero’s narrative is some fundamentally mundane, but character building mishap, and it is this that allows us to empathise with superheros. Super Discount approaches this duality from the other side. Instead of exploring the humanity in the superhero, it shows us the superhero in the human.
We are trying to make a play. We are trying to make a play that explores the lives of people with disabilities. We want you to understand the impact prejudice has on people. We want to show you that people with disabilities have feelings too. We want you to understand that for some people, simple tasks such as putting a microphone on a stand is a tremendous feat in itself. We want to do all these things, about disabled people, on behalf of disabled people, in the words of disabled people… but we can’t actually have disabled people on stage, for the simple fact that they are just not intelligible. Or can we?
From this angsty premise arises a surprisingly colourful, engaging and humorous collaboration which combines performance, dance, and costume with a dialogue driven script. In a quest to challenge audiences’ perceptions of political correctness, nothing is spared, as the characters gleefully poke fun at themselves, the audience, popular culture, and even theatre itself. The dry wit of the script, together with wonderfully dead-pan performances result in a fast paced and energetic story that you can’t help getting swept up into. Bringing the vehicle of the superhero to life with inventive costumes, choreography and music, Super Discount is thoroughly enjoyable, from awkward beginning through to triumphant conclusion.
Despite the murky moral waters of this premise, and the complexity of its themes, it’s refreshing to see the momentum of Super Discount does not get bogged down. It’s a simple story that wears its heart on its sleeve. What you see is what you get, and there’s no fear that the characters won’t call it exactly as they see it. Free of artistic pretence, free of technical over complications, free of political correctness, in its own iconic words, it is, ‘Post-Disability’.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Back to Back Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company & Malthouse Theatre present
Super Discount
Directed & Devised by Bruce Gladwin
Devised by Back to Back Theatre ensemble members Mark Deans, Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price, Brian Tilley and David Woods
Lighting Design: Andrew Livingston
Costume Design: Shio Otani
With Mark Deans, Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price, Brian Tilley, David Woods
Wharf 1 Theatre, Sydney
20 September – 19 October
Photo: Jeff Busby
