Holy Day
Thu, 9 Mar 2006, 01:00 pmWalter Plinge1 post in thread
Holy Day
Thu, 9 Mar 2006, 01:00 pmThe best show on in Sydney at the moment may very well be Epicentre’s production of Andrew Bovell’s Holy Day at the Zenith Theatre in Chatswood, which is a shame, because to the majority of Sydney’s Theatre going population the Zenith is on the “wrong side of the bridge”. So while we sit through the tripe that Darlinghurst and the Old Fitz are dishing up, Sydney Theatre’s best kept secret remains exactly that… a secret.
It is a bold choice by the typically conservative Epicentre to allow director Greg Friend to stage this particular play, and may I say that if I was Epicentre I would be giving Greg Friend carte blanche to put on whatever he likes, whenever he likes. The job that he and his technical team have done is nothing short of spectacular. Without a single set change we are transported from Travellers Rest to Waterhole to Bush and back again. 1850Â’s frontier Australia was a vast, desolate, barren land matched only in itÂ’s terror by its beauty. That dichotomy is captured brilliantly by Lighting Designer Richard Neville, who enthrals us, and then reminds us of what terror lies beyond the pink and orange sunset.
Holy Day is basically a thriller. It tells the story of Nora (Suzanne Millar) the owner of a Travellers Rest deep in outback Australia. She and her adopted half-aboriginal daughter Obedience (Bianka Demets) have the relative peace of their existence shattered by the arrival of local Missionary’s wife Elizabeth (Josephine Mitchell) with the news that her husband is dead and her baby has been stolen. Coupled with this is the presence of three mysterious travellers Goundry (Ben Wood), Epstein (Andrew Cutcliffe) and the eerily silent Cornelius (Jay James-Moody), the audience has many questions racing through their mind, everyone is a suspect, including the young aboriginal girl Linda (Tahlia Phillips) who comes around asking for food. It is left local “law” man Wakefield (Phil Lye) to get to the truth of the matter.
This is a magnificent performance from the entire ensemble; Demets and Phillips are superb in their portrayal of the young aboriginal girls struggling to find meaning and a future in this burgeoning nation. Lye gives us a tremendous insight to the mind of the settlers of the time, is it about survival or justice? Cutcliffe’s performance as Epstein, the moral conscience of the piece, is intense and perfectly measured. James-Moody is a harrowing figure as the mute Cornelius, a great lesson for all aspiring actors who subscribe to the “no small parts, only small actors” ethos. Josephine Mitchell’s Elizabeth gives us an eye into the heart of darkness; her scene’s with Nora are some of the best in the play. Special mention must be made to Suzanne Millar whose integrity, honesty and strength shine through as the gritty Nora. She has the audience in the palm of her hands from first line to the gut wrenching final line. This is not an easy task either playing opposite one of the most intimidating characters I have ever seen on stage, Ben Wood’s Goundry. Wood delivers a genuinely scary performance, highlighted by the fact that when the audience almost feels sympathy for this monstrosity of a man, we are immediately reminded of the true character with the most chilling of consequences.
This only runs for 3 more nights – Thursday 9th March, Friday 10th March and Saturday 11th. See it if you can. Few other theatre companies will ever have the guts to put it on.
It is a bold choice by the typically conservative Epicentre to allow director Greg Friend to stage this particular play, and may I say that if I was Epicentre I would be giving Greg Friend carte blanche to put on whatever he likes, whenever he likes. The job that he and his technical team have done is nothing short of spectacular. Without a single set change we are transported from Travellers Rest to Waterhole to Bush and back again. 1850Â’s frontier Australia was a vast, desolate, barren land matched only in itÂ’s terror by its beauty. That dichotomy is captured brilliantly by Lighting Designer Richard Neville, who enthrals us, and then reminds us of what terror lies beyond the pink and orange sunset.
Holy Day is basically a thriller. It tells the story of Nora (Suzanne Millar) the owner of a Travellers Rest deep in outback Australia. She and her adopted half-aboriginal daughter Obedience (Bianka Demets) have the relative peace of their existence shattered by the arrival of local Missionary’s wife Elizabeth (Josephine Mitchell) with the news that her husband is dead and her baby has been stolen. Coupled with this is the presence of three mysterious travellers Goundry (Ben Wood), Epstein (Andrew Cutcliffe) and the eerily silent Cornelius (Jay James-Moody), the audience has many questions racing through their mind, everyone is a suspect, including the young aboriginal girl Linda (Tahlia Phillips) who comes around asking for food. It is left local “law” man Wakefield (Phil Lye) to get to the truth of the matter.
This is a magnificent performance from the entire ensemble; Demets and Phillips are superb in their portrayal of the young aboriginal girls struggling to find meaning and a future in this burgeoning nation. Lye gives us a tremendous insight to the mind of the settlers of the time, is it about survival or justice? Cutcliffe’s performance as Epstein, the moral conscience of the piece, is intense and perfectly measured. James-Moody is a harrowing figure as the mute Cornelius, a great lesson for all aspiring actors who subscribe to the “no small parts, only small actors” ethos. Josephine Mitchell’s Elizabeth gives us an eye into the heart of darkness; her scene’s with Nora are some of the best in the play. Special mention must be made to Suzanne Millar whose integrity, honesty and strength shine through as the gritty Nora. She has the audience in the palm of her hands from first line to the gut wrenching final line. This is not an easy task either playing opposite one of the most intimidating characters I have ever seen on stage, Ben Wood’s Goundry. Wood delivers a genuinely scary performance, highlighted by the fact that when the audience almost feels sympathy for this monstrosity of a man, we are immediately reminded of the true character with the most chilling of consequences.
This only runs for 3 more nights – Thursday 9th March, Friday 10th March and Saturday 11th. See it if you can. Few other theatre companies will ever have the guts to put it on.