SLUT

‘SLUT’ was written by a Fellow of the Theatre Board of the Australia Council, Patricia Cornelius. She was the winner of the 2011 NSW Premier’s Literary Award and winner of the 2009 Richard Wherrett Award for Excellence in Playwriting.

An infamous 2007 Melbourne nightclub shooting inspired ‘Slut’. This play is an observation of young girls’ assessments of sexuality and peer pressure, it was created from research and interviews with schoolgirls. This West Australian First is presented by the adventurous 'Little y Theatre Company'. It is a Blue Room Personal Season and Pride WA Festival event, showing at The Blue Room Theatre, Cultural Centre, Northbridge. All shows are at 8.30 pm until Saturday 19^th November.

      In the dim light a group of masked mourners gather in respect for a family man, a mere passer-by, who has died trying to save a young girl, Lolita, from an attack outside a nightclub. The group chant and pound the ground in anger with their stout bamboo poles. 

       The lights become brighter and we are taken back twenty years to a group of seven children, who in turn discuss their connection over the years with Lolita. In turn, starting as early as the maternity ward, through the playgroup days to the primary school they reel off incidents.

       Lolita is the brightest kid in the class, but naïve. All of the girls know that they are different to Lolita. She can always get special treatment from her teachers. She is admired for everything she does. Slowly the jealousy builds, reaching a zenith when the bodily changes take place and Lolita is inches ahead of the rest.

       They find that Lolita is doing things with men that they hadn’t even heard of. Then one night at a teenage party, their opinion of Lolita and their jealousy for her, changed.

This play is composed of short sentences, mostly observations that are written perfectly in the natural style of the various age groups. There was a good strong, dynamic bond between the troupe, as the lines jumped from one actor to another. This script demands perfect diction, and flawless style of delivery for each phrase; the whole team of Georgia King, Sarah McKellar, Nicole Warren, Liz Frodsham, Megan Moir, Chloe Flockart and Alexandra Nell performed it beautifully. The cast captured the body language of the children with hilarious accuracy. Their faces were animated as the expressions added mesmerising fascination to their tale. They added excitement and fun to each line, and as always the ‘Little y Theatre’ team were excellent.

With Emily McLean’s inventive punchy direction and her inspired creative thinking – she designed a rowing boat on the river and a cycle ride using solely the bodies of the cast. The pace was at breakneck speed for the whole hour of the performance. Movement specialist, Claudia Alessi, has grouped the girls’ movements together in a loose, yet almost choreographic style. The cast moved around the stage, sometimes huddled, at other times doing cartwheels, the action was always kept interesting.

WAMI nominated musician, Sian Brown, has composed sensitive, delightful background music that complemented the mood, whether sad or light-hearted. With musician, Rob Findlay, and sound engineer, Dave Robertson, the result was harmonically enchanting.

Monique Wajon’s simple set of white net columns, against a black wall - with symbolic blood splatters and trails - was versatile and worked well. The lighting by Joe Lui was, as always, colourful and exciting. 

Now unfortunately the down side – the script. It should have been heart-rending, exciting and shocking. It wasn’t. It was basically the observation by the schoolchildren of one of their peers, and in this aspect was amazingly accurate; the storyline however was virtually nil.

Marks? 100% to the cast and team, 50% for the story, Patricia Cornelius has done so much better.