Shoosh! OMG! Thomas Sainsbury has written another play!  

The two scenes that bring the play to its emotional peak are written like blunt force trauma yet there are still depths for the actors to plumb if they are to deliver maximum impact and allow for the delicious end of the piece to have its full impact.

In his writer’s note Sainsbury says: “I also wanted to work with the idea that actions are just actions. Essentially there is no ‘good’. There is no ‘bad’. Things just happen. And small indiscretions, or major indiscretions, are nothing more than blips on the heart monitor of life. They happen, there is a ripple effect, and then it all smoothes out again.” He achieves this, and that he does so at a time in our nation’s history when Christchurch is in ruins and we are all grieving for our fellow citizens, should give us hope and a courage to face a future filled with uncertainty and courage.  

Joseph and Mahina is a shortish play coming in at slightly under an hour but all that needs to be said is said and all that needs to be done is done. As Mahina observes, “time waits for no man, or meat products …”.

Thomas, Renee and Hera … coolio! 
 

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In contrast to Love in the Time of Vampires, the acting in Joseph and Mahina is restrained, subtle and varied. It is a simple love story, told simply and movingly in Hera Dunleavy’s straightforward production in which Renee Lyons and Thomas Sainsbury play the title roles and a number of characters in the small town in which Joseph, an ineffectual but eager Christian Youth Group leader, and the lonely 17 year-old Mahina are seemingly imprisoned.

The decent, likeable but bumbling Joseph is a 28 year-old married man, who “has always done the right thing.” Suddenly he finds himself for the first time doing the wrong thing. A gossipy neighbour, Mahina’s boss at the meat counter in the supermarket, Joseph’s wife, an unconventional minister, Mahina’s family, and one or two others all play their part in clearly defining the claustrophobic small town atmosphere, which the playwright creates concisely, and with the occasional caricature but never making anyone a villain, not even the sleazy supermarket boss.

The playwright’s empathetic view of human behaviour is reflected on stage in a dominating crucifix and in the play’s final, but least effective, moments. Still, the play is touched with a delicacy in its writing and characterisation that is rare in local plays.
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 For as long as Theatreview has been ‘live’ (i.e. since 2006), Thomas Sainsbury has been writing multi-character plays and no shortage of Auckland actors has lined up to be in them, for very short seasons with no prospect of reasonably remuneration for the time, energy and talent expended. Playmarket, which describes them as having “expandable casts”, has 17 titles listed and is not up-to-date (e.g. last year’s Sunday Roast is missing).

As with Sunday Roast, Joseph and Mahina uses two actors to play a range of roles and someone other than Sainsbury is directing. The difference here is that Sainsbury is one of the actors, commissioned to write a play for himself to be in and herself to direct by long-time-actor first-time-director Hera Dunleavy (after seeing him in Idiots: Back 2 School).

Sainsbury and Renee Lyons people a small town based on Sainsbury’s imagination-fired memories of growing up in Matamata. The slice of life we see finds sadly solitary individuals seeking love and meaning in an emotionally desolate landscape. Don’t let that description put you off; they are penned, played and directed with loving insight and understanding, even the slimy guy (Shane) from the supermarket meat counter.

In the simplest of settings, with handy shelves holding the odd prop and clothing item to help distinguish characters, Dunleavy, Lyons and Sainsbury allow the characters to be and behave as they are and do, leaving us to recognise, empathise and judge.

The titular characters are 28 year-old Joseph (Sainsbury), the new Christian Youth Co-ordinator, and 17 year-old Mahina (Lyons), starting her new job at the meat counter under the sleazy control of the afore-mentioned Shane, recently made redundant from the local meat works. Mahina’s Mum, Dad and sisters are all on the dole, there’s a little brother scooting round too, and she is ready to break free.

Lyons also plays, with deep-seated truth and a subtle wit, the nicotine-addicted Rev Eunice who hires Joseph, Joseph’s garden-loving, goodness-glowing and wife and would-be mother Judith, Shane’s flirty wife and the barman who gives Shane the heads-up on that over a quiet one.

Sainsbury also gives us poignant insights into Shane, gossip-monger Hilary and Mahina’s little brother. And as you may guess from the title, Joseph and Mahina find something in each other that is lacking elsewhere in their lives …

In his programme note Sainsbury says he “wanted to work with the idea that actions are just actions. Essentially there is no ‘good’. There is no ‘bad’. Things just happen. And small indiscretions, or major indiscretions, are nothing more than blips on the heart monitor of life. They happen, there is a ripple effect, and then in all smoothes out again.”

Given no-one dies or suffers deep trauma as the tale unfolds, his aims are achieved. Just telling it like it is – or was – makes for a compelling hour as we are drawn inexorably into these lives. The ending ensures we confront what we would do in the same circumstances.  

The day-to-day action is contrasted with an upbeat sound, light and movement sequence depicting a trip to an amusement park, which allows lighting designer-operator Charlie Bleakley to let rip. Otherwise scene transitions are strangely intersected with a glaring blast of white light at the audience. I took this to be unintentional and hope it is, and is remedied. If it’s part of the design it’s obtrusive and distracting. We don’t need to be told, over and over, we’re part of this story too – our internalised empathy does that for us much more effectively.

Part of me would like to see more actors used so that three or four-handed scenes could explore some elements more. Is the requirement of homegrown work to have tiny casts in order to get produced cost-effectively, and for actors to therefore be adept at multi-character performances with instant transformations, strangling our creativity or enhancing it?

As it stands, however, Joseph and Mahina is another gem from the Sainsbury trove and will undoubtedly prove a highlight of the Fringe.
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