THE INHERITANCE - Everyman Theatre

Joel Horwood (Toby) - Andrew McMillan (Leo) in Everyman Theatre's production of
"The Inheritance"

Written by Matthew Lopez

Direction/ Set Design: Jarrad West – Assist. Director/Lighting Design: Lachlan Houen – Sound Design: Nikki Fitzgerald, Nathan Patrech - Costume Design: Joel Horwood - Stage Manager: Maggie Hawkins – Movement Director/Choreographer: Chloe Archer – Properties: Alice Ferguson, Brenton Warren – Original Music composed by Alex Unikowski – Intimacy Coordinator – Karen Vickery – Vocal/Performance Coach: Sarah Chalmers.

Performed by Michael Cooper, Callum Doherty, Duncan Driver, Robbie Haltiner, Lachlan Herring, Joel Horwood, Leonidas Katsanis, James Andrew Macmillan, James McMahon, Liam Prichard, Rhys Robinson, Jack Tinga, Karen Vickery.

ACT HUB: Canberra - October 12 to November 2,  2024.

Performances on 20th October reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.



                                        Members of the ensemble cast of "The Inheritance"


This epic play by Matthew Lopez was inspired by his response to the E.M. Forster’s 1910 novel “Howard’s End”. Lopez found parallels between his own life and Forster’s closeted existence before the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality.

With The Inheritance Lopez takes the opportunity to compare the lives and loves of gay men in contemporary New York a generation after the AIDS crisis, to those of Forster’s generation, and through his characters, raises questions about what the current generation owes to its forebears, going so far as to include E.M Forster as one of the characters, in this production performed by Duncan Driver.

Duncan Driver as E.M.Forster in "The Inheritance"

 

Forster acts as an observer and commentator but as the play progresses these roles are shared among the various actors.

For his production for Everyman Theatre, director Jarrad West has assembled an accomplished ensemble cast of twelve men and one woman.

His clever stage design has the audience seated on both sides of a central raised playing area, allowing the opportunity to arrange his actors in a succession of visually arresting tableau to tantalise the eyes as the play progresses.

The Inheritance is written in two acts, each over three hours in length and designed to be experienced sequentially. However, in this case there is opportunity to attend different performances if preferred.

But despite the obvious demands the length of the play makes on both audience and cast, it says a great deal about the brilliance of the writing, the performances, and particularly West’s resourceful direction, that the time flies by as the audience becomes engrossed in the complexities of the lives of the characters, and the arguments in which they engage that allows Lopez to have them debate such conundrums as how to hold onto gay history and the appropriation of their language by the mainstream.

Although the production is very much an ensemble piece, several performances remain in the mind long after the play is over.


 

Joel Horwood as Toby in "The Inheritance"

                                
With his performance as the deeply conflicted Toby who destroys himself, and everyone around him with his search for authenticity, Joel Horwood dominates the production. His multi-faceted, deeply committed performance is both dangerous and masterful, making it impossible to tear your eyes away from him whenever he is on stage.

Andrew MacMillan, cleverly cast in the dual roles of Adam and Leo for reasons that become obvious as the play unfolds, captivates with the subtlety of his differentiation between the two characters.



                James McMahon (Eric) - Rhys Robinson (Henry) in "The Inheritance



Rhys Robinson as the charismatic billionaire Henry Wilcox who finds himself challenged in a tense argument about white privilege, and James McMahon as Eric who finds himself ostracised by his friends for his decisions, both reveal themselves as actors of considerable depth and range.

Karen Vickery brings considerable gravitas to the only female role in the play, that of a mother, Margaret, who towards the end of the play talks of the devastation of losing her son to AIDS.



                        A moment in Everyman Theatre's production of "The Inheritance".


The Inheritance is a play of particular relevance to the gay community. This production includes graphic scenes depicting gay sexual activity which some might find confronting.

However, for anyone with an appetite for quality theatre this production offers a memorable theatrical feast which should not be missed.




                         Images by Janelle McMenamin and Michael Moore.




This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.This com.au