Across Hellfire; Filmed

What; Across Hellfire (formally an episodic 6 part series at The Blue Room, now filmed with the help of Artrage)
When; Oct 24, 2004
Where; The Bakery, James St, Northbridge, WA

I loved the Across Hellfire series when it was on at the Blue Room, I felt for the characters and I laughed my arse off. For my money, Across Hellfire is the best work Lil' Luke Milton has ever done. So I was very interested to hear that Artrage had offered to help Luke film the series as part of their Incubator program. I wanted to see how the episodes, and the beloved characters, would translate to the medium-sized-screen.

I have to admit I expected the productions values to be pretty crappy. I mean these things were filmed over only a couple of weeks by Luke and a willing band of cohorts. I had spoken to Luke beforehand about the problems they encountered, the power blackouts, the 45 degree heat, the cabin fever, the list goes on. I was curious, but I wasn't expecting much.

I was wrong. "Friends" it aint, but the production values (with some notable exceptions) are great. The cast look brilliant, every bit of the energy that drove the stage shows is present in the filmed series. It is obvious that the crew learnt as they went along, the episodes got better and better from the 2nd to the 6th. The episode in which Amelia's parents invade the house was a triumph of editing, the intercutting of the news story black and white peices with the actual peices was very very well done.

I don't know if it was just space constraints, but the one problem I had was the almost complete lack of any wide shots. This added significantly to the feeling of claustraphobia, that is so important to the series, but didn't allow you to get a feeling for the house it's self. In the stage show I almost felt like the house was one of the characters, but this series didn't allow that (although it was great top see the house from the outside). It also made the characters work a lot harder to establish their power positions within the house, something that was done with ease onstage when all the characters where in the living room at the same time.

That having been said, none of the chemistry between the actors was lost in the translation to the medium sized screen. I think a lot of that may have been the absolute committment of the actors, especially Paul Goddard's Devlin. Whilst Damon Lockwood's Wheeler gets to make the most impact (the crazy character actor always steals the show, especially when he's as bloody good as Damon), Paul holds the show together, he is the centre around which the others revolve, he seemed to keep the belief of all the actors intact by his own implaccable committment. I even found them all more sympathetic than in the on-stage version. The final scene between Devlin and Renee Newman-Storen's Amelia was heartbreaking. I just wanted to hug her, watching the tears well up in her huge eyes, you are able, in this medium to appreciate her lovely subtle performance in that scene (when things suddenly and for the first time, become really really real) in a way you couldn't on stage.

There were some problems, some lighting wasn't matched very well, some sound went a little awry, but this was mostly in the first episode. The music was great, very apt, very funny, and the credits made the whole audience laugh, even after the fourth time we had seen them.

It's a fairly amazing feat to have put this together with the time constraints placed on the crew and with the conditions under which the cast were performing. They have made something really special, and very very funny.

I can't wait to see the whole series, and I can't wait to see it enjoy the sucess it deserves. Well done to all involved.