Maelstrom by Chris
Dickins
At Beckett Theatre,
Malthouse
By Ballarat
University until Nov 29, 1997
Review by Kate Herbert around 26 Nov 1997
"Don't stand in my shadow, Don't stare in my
face" is the imperative of the aggressive and disenfranchised youth of
Chris Dickins play, Maelstrom.
I'd be inclined to heed them. They're scary people.
The graduating year of Ballarat University Performing Arts
with director Peter Tulloch, play fourteen characters in a socio-political
narrative which resonates with the darker outcomes of the 'sell, sell sell',
behaviour of the Victorian government.
A condemned property with a fabulous view of the Casino
complex is occupied by a tribe of angry squatters under the near-fascist
leadership of a very disturbed but charismatic young man, J. J. Rider. Dickins
reveals all their fraught stories but the central narrative deals with the
siege on the house that has a bloody end.
Dickins plot confronts betrayal, abandonment, abuse and
suicide. The young people try, in the face of their shattered lives and
impending disaster, to survive but even they know they are fighting a lost
battle.
The project is the third piece commissioned by Ballarat from
Dickins and is a change in tone from his usual work that is lyrical and poetic.
Maelstrom is a brittle and agitating piece that retains his signature poetic
text but is generally riding the boundaries of negativity. It opens with a
feisty rap chorus number that really kicks.
The young actors are committed and make a good ensemble but
many cannot balance the verse form with the rough-as-guts dialogue. Although it
is obviously written as a vehicle to showcase all fourteen performers, the
series of monologues and the relentless rage become tiring and the story loses
its focus by trying to cover too incorporate too many threads. Some ruthless
editing and a concentration on J.J., his father and his dear friend Harlan,
might have made a more successful script.
There is some evocative lighting designed by Bernadette
Haldane, and an effective grunge set design. However, too many clumsy scene
changes were a distraction. Most of the actors had trouble finding the
emotional truth in the text and ended up yelling and over-stating. There was
one exceptional performance from Melissa Casey who not only found the colour
and texture in her distressed character but she
surprised us with a great jazz voice.
KATE HERBERT
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