By Moises Kaufman and members of Tectonic Theatre
Direction, set and sound designed by Chris Baldock –
Lighting Design by Joel Edmondson
Presented by Mockingbird Theatre. Theatre 3, Canberra.
June 7th until June 22nd.
Final performances on June 22nd reviewed by
Bill Stephens.
In 1998 an event on the outskirts of Laramie, Wyoming,
shocked the world. A 21 year old gay student was kidnapped, severely beaten and
left to die, tied to a fence on the outskirts of the town. His name was Matthew
Shephard. Such was the impact of this event that a New York theatre company
travelled to Laramie to chronicle the life of the town in the year after the
murder. The play that resulted from that research, The Laramie Project became a world-wide sensation, and Matthew
Shephard’s name became synonymous with anti-hate crime.
A decade after the original event, Tectonic Theatre
revisited Laramie this time to investigate how the town had coped with the
unwanted infamy. The result was a second
play, The Laramie Project: Ten Years
Later.
The original play had had a profound effect on
director, Chris Baldock, who has staged it three times previously. When The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later
became available, Baldock hit upon the idea of presenting the two plays in
repertory, providing audiences with the opportunity to see both plays
consecutively on the one day, or at different performances during the season.
He chose a diverse cast of eight actors, who would
appear in both plays, creating between them more than 50 different Laramie
citizens during the course of both plays. Those actors were Karen Vickery,
Andrea Close, Meaghan Stewart, Liz St Clair Long, Michael Cooper, Joel Horwood,
Hayden Splitt and Baldock himself.
 |
| (L-R) Andrea Close -Hayden Splitt - Liz St Clair Long - Joel Douglas - Michael Cooper -Karen Vickery - Meaghan Stewart - Chris Baldock |
Dressed in casual clothes, on a bare stage, the only
props, eight wooden chairs, the only set piece, a rough sculpture on the back
wall representing the fence to which the unfortunate Shephard had been lashed,
these eight actors flipped seamlessly between multiple personalities and
accents, delivering direct quotes from the transcripts gathered during Tectonic
Theatre’s investigations.
It was a feat of endurance that was fascinating to
watch, and says much for the talent and dedication of the actors, as well as the
skillful direction of Baldock, that at
no time during the five hours combined playing time was the audience’s
attention allowed to flag. Dramatic lighting changes, evocative use of music,
the constant re-arrangement of the chairs and the inventive groupings of the
actors, focused the attention relentlessly on the text, often shocking in its
detail, but also moving, sometimes enraging, as the various characters revealed
their often callous, ignorant or thoughtless responses to the tragedy.
The first play set the tone, laid out much of the
detail of the crime and explored the responses of the townspeople still trying
to come to grips with the realization that such a crime could take place in
their community. The second play allows the audience to engage with the
perpetrators, to hear their motives and responses, and to learn of their fates.
It also reveals the attempts of some to rewrite history, distort the facts, even
use the event to achieve changes in legislation.
Both plays have much to say about the human condition,
and to have the opportunity to experience them consecutively, particularly as
interpreted by this fine ensemble, was a theatrical experience to be
cherished. Mockingbird Theatre is to be
commended for its audacity and courage in so successfully mounting these two
important plays.
This review appears in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW.
www.artsreview.com.au