THE INHERITANCE

 

The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez. Inspired by “Howard’s End” by EM Forster. 

Directed by Jarrad West. Assistant director Lachlan Houen. Executive Producer Nikki Fitzgerald. Stage manager Maggie Hawkins. Movement director/choreographer Chloe Hawkins Set design Jarrad West. Lighting design Lachlan Houen. Costume design Joel Horwood. Sound design Nikki Fitzgerald. Nathan Petrach. Original music composed by Alex Unikowski.. Intimacy coordinator. Karen Vickery.

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

Everyman Theatre at ACT HUB at the Causeway Hall KIngston. October 12 – November 2 2024. Bookings: acthub.littleboxoffice.com

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Joel Horwood as Toby Darling and Andrew McMillan as Leo
in Everyman Theatre's production of The Inheritance

Every now and then I see a play that convinces me that it deserves to be staged by one of Australia’s leading mainstage companies. Everyman Theatre’s production of Matthew Lopez’s Olivier Award winning play The Inheritance is such a production. Directed by Jarrad West and assistant director Lachlan Houen at ACTHUB Everyman’s production of The Inheritance is more than a performance of Lopez’s epic drama about what it means to be gay . It is an experience that transfixes, that probes the question of who we are and takes us on a journey that is at times emotionally charged, intellectually probing and intensely visceral. In short it is a theatrical experience not to be missed.

James McMahon as Eric. Rhys Robinson as Henry

The production is staged in two parts on a traverse stage. Part One introduces the gay characters and in particular the story of Eric Glass (James McMahon), a city lawyer and his neurotic playwright lover Toby Darling (Joel Horwood). Aspiring actor and would-be writer Adam McDowell (Andrew Macmillan) enters their lives, disturbing the equilibrium of their relationship. Part Two continues to trace Eric’s journey and he meets the partner of his mentor and friend Morgan (E.M. Forster played by Duncan Driver). Henry Wilcox (Rhys Robinson) is a self-made billionaire and Republican, which brings him into passionate conflict with Eric’s employer Jasper (Lachlan Herring) The first meeting between Wilcox and Eric’s friends turns into a raging diatribe against white male privilege, morality and class divide, set against a background of political turbulence and social inequality. Lopez offers a fervent discourse on the political circumstances across the decades and the ravaging impact of the AIDS epidemic. The only female character, Margaret (Karen Vickery) appears to relate the mother’s story of the loss of her son to the plague.

Ultimately, The Inheritance is a masterpiece of storytelling, gripping, moving, at times humourous, at others homo-erotic, and at other times woven intricately into a story about three generations of gay men, their different experiences, their frailties and their enduring search for answers to what it means to be gay. It is a story that carries audiences absorbed and involved through two three hour parts that provide a total theatre experience as well as a personal awakening . Toby struggles to be honest to himself. Wilcox must confront his own dishonesty. Eric must face his need to help Toby and rent boy Leo (cleverly doubled up with McDowell by Andrew Macmillan).  

Duncan Driver as Morgan
James McMahon as Eric Glass

Playwright Lopez’s inspiration is evident in the introduction of EM Forster’s character as an adviser and narrator and the close parallel with Henry Wilcox’s story in Howards’s End. All characters act as chorus to the themes of pain, suffering, healing and identity that crowd their lives. They comment on the other characters as well as their own. They direct the passage of the story that they are creating or at times observe themselves from the narrator’s perspective. It is a fascinating and intriguing device that propels the action in a woven tapestry of the lives of the major and minor characters.

To say that all thirteen performances are flawless would be to understate the impact of each performance in capturing our hearts and minds. We cringe at Toby’s pain – “Heal or Burn?” and fearful longing, We  feel for Eric’s betrayed trust or Leo’s desperate need to be loved. We empathize with each character’s personal dilemma be it Jasper’s indignation at Henry’s lack of compassion or Tristan’s need to leave a country that he can no longer support. We rejoice at the good fortune of the two Jasons at their adoption of a son.  The cast of The Inheritance offer performances that are among the very best that any audience is likely to see in Canberra. Jarrad West has directed an ensemble of among the finest actors in Canberra . The hours fly by, interrupted by two short intervals. West directs his cast with the certainty of understanding and the commitment to tell Lopez’s story with an absolute truth that transcends theatrical artifice.  

ACT HUB once again has produced a production that does theatre in Canberra and its cast and creatives proud. Whatever theatre you hope to see this year, place The Inheritance at the very top of the list.

Photos by Janelle McMenamin and Michael Moore