WRONG LOVE |
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) Writer: David Harrower Director: Margaret-Mary Hollins Auckland Theatre Company at Maidment, Auckland From 6 Sep 2008 to 27 Sep 2008 [1hr 20 mins, no interval] Reviewed by Nik Smythe, 8 Sep 2008 |
The scummy, dowdy set depicting the smoko room in some unspecified industrial factory or plant sets the aesthetic tone for the dismal and unnerving subject matter of the play. Twenty-seven year old Una has turned up at the workplace of fifty-six year old Ray, having tracked him down fifteen years after they had an illicit affair... you do the maths.
Ray holds some crummy middle management position in some unspecified factory or plant. Since serving his time after he was caught and sentenced for paedophilia, Ray has created a new life in a small town and is ostensibly trying to lead a normal existence. Exactly what Una is there for is for her to know and everyone to wonder about.
Scotsman David Harrower's Blackbird premiered in Edinburgh three years ago and transferred to the West End. The script certainly echoes the Scots vernacular when you're listening for it but the setting of this ATC production is distinctly kiwi, so no paragraphs required to address the ongoing debate of foreign stories and accent quality. The events of the story could take place anywhere in the western world, or elsewhere even, so it makes sense to bring it closer to home wherever it is produced. Thus, Margaret-Mary Hollins and her proficient cast bring the contentious drama to the stage with humour and heart.
Michael Hurst handles the various juxtaposed facets of Ray's personality with trademark skill - harrowed yet authoritative, a simple factory supervisor yet astute and almost charming. As the scoundrel of the piece he does well to elicit our sympathy, albeit mostly in a 'Christ, I'd hate to be you!' sort of way.
Liesha Ward Knox plays Una with studious, innocent, vampish charm, though she appeared at times to struggle with embodying such a complex character with so much going on inside her. Nevertheless, Knox's Una is willful and assertive, with underlying tenderness but enough savvy to keep us guessing if and when her calculating agenda takes over from the genuine victim. I daresay both hers and Hurst's best performances this season are yet to come.
The age difference between Una and Ray is of course the central issue here, but this isn't merely an educational piece about paedophiles. It's not even much of a cautionary tale; more a tale of forbidden love, misguided passion, bad timing. In discussion with other audience members, I find I share a common difficulty with exactly what attitude to take about the situation the play discloses.
Some are content to view Ray as villain and Una the victim, simple as that. In legal and social terms this is correct; Una was barely pubescent when they first met and in spite of her effectively being the one who stalked Ray at the start, his position as the responsible adult ought to have been to discourage her, to redirect those passions of hers that he had unlocked.
But he instead allowed himself to be drawn in, fooled himself with the justification of true love. And he was caught, and punished, and rightly so - he was guilty of abuse, of unfairly taking a child's innocence. But by then it's too late to change what happened, or escape the intrinsic dilemma of the law versus love, morality versus passion.
That's all presuming you believe his side of the story at all. The possibility that Ray is simply a liar through and through remains open for debate, although if anyone should be able to catch him out surely Una could. Of course, she may be driven by what she wants to believe herself...
This review cannot be complete without due accolades to the exemplary collaborative set and lighting designs of Robin Rawstorne and Bryan Caldwell. The luminous effect of anonymous personnel seen through the frosted windows walking by in the outer corridor is simply stunning.
Also, testament to sound designer Andrew McMillan are the sweetly haunting siren songs sung by Maria Hollins-Werry that open and close the play - respectively classic show tune Bye Bye Blackbird, and the quintessential Sir Paul McArtney folk song. Touching bookends to a momentous 80 minutes or so in the lives of two hapless wretches whose intense connection appears ultimately doomed to be troublesome and wrong.
[Here are the links for reviews and discussion prompted by the Circa production and Sydney Theatre Company production at the NZ International Arts Festival, including a Forum.]
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See also reviews by:
Paul Simei-Barton (New Zealand Herald);
Renee Liang (The Lumiere Reader);