Reviewed by Frank McKone
July 26
Director: Mark Kilmurry
Asst Director: Tiffany Wong; Set & Costume Designer: Dan Potra
Lighting Design: Morgan Moroney; Composer & Sound: Madeleine Picard
Stage Manager: Lauren Tulloh; Asst Stage Manager: Bella Wellstead
Photography: Phil Erbacher
Cast:
Helen – Aisha Aidara; Elaine – Danielle Carter; Kate – Rachel Gordon
Mike – Matt Minto; Colin – Tom O’Sullivan; Malcolm – Rajan Velu
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| Aisha Aidara as Helen, Matt Minto as Mike |
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| Tom O’Sullivan as Colin, Danielle Carter as Elaine |
Although I can’t be specific about what changes David Williamson has made to update Emerald City since its first production in 1987, it seemed to me in the Ensemble Theatre’s much more intimate space than the large wide postbox stage in the Drama Theatre at Sydney Opera House, the play full of one-liners about the business of being a playwright, zinged along much more smartly than I remember from nearly 40 years ago.
I think too, though I can hardly imagine it, that this cast could be any better than theatrical icons (Colin) Garry McDonald, (Elaine) Ruth Cracknell, (Kate) Robyn Nevin, (Mike) Drew Forsythe , and now QUT Associate Professor (Helen) Andrea Moor.
Yet Tom O’Sullivan, Danielle Carter, Rachel Gordon and Aisha Aidara, along with a raucus Matt Minto and so-cool and collected Rajan Velu, captured, I’m certain from Mark Kilmurry’s directing skills, every twist and turn of ironic pronouncements that made each character so distinctive – and seemingly real. The play stayed in its 1980s period, but now has so much more depth in its implications about being ethical as well as money-making.
Or maybe I’m just seeing more in it now than I could in my state of understanding 40 years ago without a Trump in the deal of my cards back then.
The argument between the Melbournites who read books on the tram against the Sydneyites who just read the morning paper, made the play an amusing comedy – and still does – but the frustrations Colin faces now, and especially the effect he has on his wife Kate, as well as the success of Mike’s pragmatic commerciality, gives the humour, on reflection after the laughter, a new blacker edge.
This Emerald City is a play for our time perhaps even more than it was in its time – and it was truly famous then. Don’t miss it now.
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| Rachel Gordon as Kate |
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| Whole cast of Emerald City, L to R: Colin – Tom O’Sullivan Mike – Matt Minto Kate – Rachel Gordon Malcolm – Rajan Velu Elaine – Danielle Carter Helen – Aisha Aidara Ensemble Theatre 2025 |
Frank McKone's reviews are also accessible at www.frankmckone2.blogspot.com
