Written by and
starring Raoul Craemer
Directed by Paulo
Castro
The Street Theatre
until July 3.
Review by Len Power
24 June 2016
Raoul Craemer’s ‘Pigman’s Lament’ at the Street Theatre is a
fascinating, startling and entertaining theatrical experience. Part autobiography, part fantasy, Craemer
takes us on a journey through his mind and spits us out at the other end.
Don’t expect a linear story with a neat ending. The elements that make up this piece are a
bit like one of those Picasso paintings or an Alain Resnais movie. You have to decide what it all means and
maybe it doesn’t matter. It’s the pure
theatricality of this work that makes it so worthwhile and memorable.
Raoul Craemer, who grew up in Germany, India and England,
uses his experiences of that background to weave a kaleidoscopic story around a
Canberra playwright and stay-at-home dad in a smart Canberra studio apartment
who seems to be undergoing some sort of personal crisis. The ghost of his grandfather is a frightening
influence as is his love of soccer, symbolised by a soccer ball covered with a
pig’s face which seems to be mocking him.
The laundry basket full of white socks still to be folded and put away may
signify issues with being a stay-at-home parent. The medieval Indian weaver-poet, Kabir, played
memorably by Craemer in a previous play, is also bound up in this as is the
computer game, Minecraft, and maybe the key to the whole thing is a quote from
the German poet, Rilke, about ‘a forest of contradictions’.
Craemer’s performance is intense, controlled, funny at times
and always interesting. We may have
different personal experiences to him but, through his down-to-earth performance,
we can identify with a lot of the personal anxieties displayed here. His clever script has been enhanced by the
imaginative direction by Paulo Castro who makes sure there’s not one moment that
isn’t exciting to look at or listen to.
The set, designed by Christiane Nowak, creates an engaging atmospheric
environment for the play. A gantry of
lights protruding diagonally into the acting space seems to tell us that we’re
in a theatrical experience, not the real world, but maybe it’s a design
statement in this modern Canberra apartment?
The lighting design by Gillian Schwab is imaginative and the original
music by Lara Soulio and Sianna Lee and additional sound by Kimmo Vennonen are
an essential and pleasing element of this clever production.
You will be challenged by this work but if you’re prepared
to go along with it, you’ll find it very rewarding.
Len Power’s reviews
can also be heard on Artsound FM 92.7’s ‘Artcetera’ program from 9am on
Saturdays.