Unbecoming. Written and directed by Cathy Petocz. 8pm. Wed
Mar 6 and Fri Mar 8 at The
Courtyard Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre.
Thorson Photography
Cathy Petocz’s short but powerful one woman piece Unbecoming
has two showings as part of a season of independent Canberra performance at
Canberra Theatre’s Courtyard Studio.
It’s about a dead girl. Like those on the slab in detective
TV shows but one with a voice and a lot of questions. Ado’s still in her
nightclothes. The afterlife hasn’t started yet and she has one chance to haunt
the living and to find out how she died, since she doesn’t remember.
She’s crazy about Shakespeare and Hamlet’s soliloquy plays a
big part in her questioning. As do the characters of her best girl friend and a
boy they both know. Is this about murder? Has she come back from the dead to
pinpoint her killer?
The stage is bare except for a small desk and eccentrically
rigged but evocative lighting by Anthony Arblaster. Atmospheric sound design,
including some fairly disturbing work with the voices of the afterlife, is by
Cilt (Hannah de Feyter and Becki Whitton).
The writing’s sharp and Isobel Burton’s performance is right
to the point. She shows us a no
nonsense young woman dealing with post death trauma in a feeling but intelligent
way. And she also makes present the difficulties of Ado’s life and
relationships. Burton brings energy, humour and a strong physical presence to
the work.
On Wednesday night support act Happy Axe (Emma Kelly)
offered enthusiastically received eerie violin, voice, saw and synthesising, enjoyably
reminiscent of some of the more disturbing film scores of Bernard Herrmann. Friday
night will see support by electronic pop Aphir.
This all too brief season also features dancer/choreographer
James Batchelor in his own piece, Hyperspace, with music support acts Pheno
(Mar 7) and Reuben Ingall (Mar 9).
Alanna Maclean