Written by Alice
Birch
Directed by Karla
Conway
The Street Company at
The Street Theatre to 1 December
Reviewed by Len Power
28 November 2018.
Winner of the British George Devine award in 2014, ‘Revolt.
She Said. Revolt Again.’ Is a startling work that defies normal theatrical
expectations. Writer, Alice Birch,
says that ‘the play should not be well-behaved’.
Performed without a break in four discrete acts, the play
looks at current and past conventions about sex, work, aging, love and
motherhood in a way that uses a heightened language and performance style to show
how we behave towards each other currently and how we might be able to do it
better.
It’s challenging, intense, funny, confronting and exciting
theatre. It has the potential to
polarise audiences.
Director, Karla Conway, has obtained very strong, committed
performances from her ensemble cast of six – The 2018 Street Company of young
actors at the start of their professional careers.
 |
| Bronte Forrester & Damon Baudin |
Damon Baudin, Bronte Forrester, Ash Hamilton-Smith, Hiyab
Kerr, Hayden Splitt, and Anneka van der Velde are uniformly excellent in a play
that demands a high level of language and physical acting skills as well as
split second timing.
 |
| Bronte Forrester and (under the table) Hiyab Kerr & Hayden Splitt |
Conceived by the director and Sam Pickering and realized by
Imogen Keen, the simple but effective set in the Street Two performance space
has been configured to provide an ‘in-the-round’ experience which works very
well.
The lighting design by Jed Buchanan is well-done and some
subtle effects including lighting under some of the audience seats and smoke
effects above the acting area add much to the atmosphere. Sound design by Kimmo Vennonen gives an
interesting haunting dimension to the show.
This is a fascinating but demanding theatre work which has
been given a fine production with excellent performances.
Photos by Shelly
Higgs
This review was first
published in the Canberra City News digital edition of 29 November 2018.
Len Power’s reviews
are also broadcast in his ‘On Stage’ performing arts radio program on Mondays
and Wednesdays from 3.30pm on Artsound FM 92.7.