The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.
Written by Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Company. Directed by
Chris Baldock. Mockingbird Theatre. Theatre 3. June 6-22 2019
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
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| The cast of Mockingbird Theatre's production of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later |
Ten years have passed since the
brutal 1998 murder of gay university student Matthew Shepard and Moises Kaufman
and members of Tectonic Theatre return to Laramie to conduct interviews with
the people to gauge their reactions to the crime that shook their town.
Mockingbird Theatre’s outstanding
production of The Laramie Project sets high expectation for its sequel, The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.
The sheer professionalism of the production is undisputedly as fine as ever. The cast is the same as is the
design. However, the thrust of the play’s effect is different. In The Laramie Project, the crime
immediately galvanizes focus and attention. We sit as participants in human
response ans driven by emotional reaction to the shocking details of Shepard’s
murder.
In 2008, Tectonic Theatre returns
to discover what has changed since the murder. We are surprised that the town’s
earlier acceptance of Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson’s hatred of gays as
a contributing factor is largely denied, preferring to accept that this was a
drug fuelled robbery that went terribly wrong. Tectonic Theatre face a town’s
evasion and refusal on the whole to be interviewed a second time, preferring to”
let the boy go” as one townsperson says. As a result, Act One concerns itself
with the failure to acknowledge the need to legislate against hate crime. As a
result the emotional impact of The
Laramie Project appears to be ameliorated by the debate and polemic of The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.
Some editing would have heightened the dramatic tension of the first act,
before shifting the audience’s attention to the issue of justice once again.
It is not until the Wyoming
Legislature is compelled to consider a bill defining marriage as between a man
and a woman that the issue of gay rights and hate crime prevention is brought
to the surface and forced to a vote. In Act Two Tectonic Theatre introduces
interviews with Henderson and McKinney, both played with riveting natural
conviction by Hayden Splitt and unobtrusively interviewed by members of the company, played
by Michael Cooper and Joel Horwood. The real tragedy of this horrific event becomes
startlingly real in the interviews with the perpetrators and profoundly moving
in the interview between Moises Kaufman (Chris Baldock) and Shepard’s mother,
Judy (Karen Vickery. Gay Laramie university lecturer, Catherine Connolly
(Andrea Close) furthers the cause when elected to the Legislature and is aided
by Republican members in defeating the prejudicial Marriage Bill. It is a reminder that Matthew Shepard’s case
is an human issue. As Shepard’s lesbian friend Romaine Patterson (Meaghan
Stewart) comments at the close of the play, Matthew Shepard, the icon of the
anti hate crime movement, must not be confused with her friend Matt. The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later depict
human tragedy, where Nature, according to McKinney, trumps nurture and a man’s
death has a profound effect on other people’s lives.
It is a struggle that ended in
hope when Barack Obama signed the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate
Crimes Prevention Act., a bill that may never have been signed had it not been
for the theatre production created by Moises Kaufman and Tectonic Theatre or the
efforts of Katherine Connolly and the Republicans who voted down the Marriage
Bill in the Wyoming Legislature. Matthew Shepard’s death was a futile, cruel
and bestial act, but from that dark time in Laramie hope has triumphed.
Mockingbird’
Theatre’s production of The Laramie
Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later under the direction of Chris Baldock and
featuring a superb cast and production team assumes the status of a state
theatre company. Production, worthy of appearing on any professional stage in
the company. Sadly, Canberra does not
have a state theatre company, and it is time again to support and to invest in the excellent work of a local
company such as Mockingbird Theatre.