Fuck Yeah, Xavier Samuel!

Mercury Fur | little death productionsWritten by Lola MacMillan

Tuesday, 04 September 2007

Mercury Fur, written by well-known British playwrightPhilip Ridley and directed by Ben Packer for Little Death productions, is a battle-worn vision of the near future in which seemingly only the young and degraded have survived. Bonds of family and friendship are tested as the shell-shocked world continues to implode.

Brothers Darren (Xavier Samuel) and Elliot (Luke Mullins) are preparing for a party in a disused, shambolic building, possibly in East London. They are party planners for Spinx (Gareth Ellis), a pimp style gang leader who is, as you can imagine, quite a complicated guy. The play is something of an ode to the importance of memory and storytelling, both of which are threatened by the pervasiveness of drugs and violence. 

Apparently this play divided audiences in the UK, assumedly due to its colourful language and violent subject matter, but I found the subject matter actually quite romantic. Brothers bond and form new families in the spaces left behind by tragedy, memories are lovingly reminisced over in minute detail, relationships come and go. Unfortunately though, like many of these British, boy-dominated, near future, ultraviolent fantasies, (in the Clockwork Orange vein), it comes across as a little dated. 

The design team, Adam Gardnir (set), Kelly Ryall (sound) and Danny Pettingill (lighting), achieve a well united vision for this future. It’s loud, dirty and harshly lit.  They work well together. Most of the performers also work well together, bursting with energy and pitching their complicated emotional levels well. It is quite a charismatic cast, which does add some excitement to the dated text. Though perhaps the text isn’t dated but needed a stronger direction in order to make it less predictable. Elliott, Darren and Lola (Russ Pirie) were a particularly interesting threesome. Performed with great neediness to love and belong, the actors render their characters with depth and sensitivity, which is both appealing and horrible.

This is a fast paced and generally interesting production; Little Death productions have effectively transformed the Theatreworks space. Mercury Fur presents a world that is filled with violence, desperate longing and such a need to belong that almost any behaviour is acceptable in order to protect what is left of any version of family. 

These boys are quick to bond and just as quick to betray.

Osama The Hero | The Rabble

Written by Aleksei Wechter

Friday, 27 October 2006

The Rabble’s production of Osama The Hero is an exploration of human nature as much as it is a criticism of today’s social/political climate. Director Syd Brisbane acknowledges in his notes that ‘it (the play) is vital, urgent, an enema to apathy, dangerous, provocative, upsetting and poignant…it asks the audience to question and debate’.

Thank god (or whomever you wish) for independent theatre! On the fringes of society, in disused warehouses and under local pubs, freedom of speech continues to flourish. Osama The Hero succeeds not only because of its strong cast, wonderfully woven script and simple production values that emphasise performance above all else, but because it prompts a discourse in which the audience is encouraged to question what’s going on in the world; without telling them how to think.

Gary (Xavier Samuel) is a kid who keeps reaffirming us that he is not stupid, and this kid is definitely a thinker. When asked to do a presentation at school on a contemporary living hero, Gary has trouble finding someone who reaches the mark. I don’t think you will have too much trouble figuring out who he ends up settling for, but it is the ‘why’ that is more interesting (and I’m not going to tell you what that is here).

The production is solid; with exceptional performances across the cast. Sound and lighting is simple and effective; complementing the power of the piece rather than trying to outshine it. The set design is clever, performances taking place on two stages, but it is also the subject of my only gripe for the production.

The frontal, lower stage is teeming with window frames which provide an effective symbol for both the plethora of perspectives on the subject matter and the many eyes behind curtains watching Gary of the estate in which he lives. But these window frames also crowd the intimate stage, limiting the performer’s movement and in certain instances (such asGary’s introduction) blocking the actors and casting distracting shadows across their faces.