Beached

Beached
By Melissa Bubnic. Griffin Theatre Company. SBW Stables. July 19 – August 30, 2013.

Griffin Theatre's newest offering Beached is a brutal look at the seductive nature of reality TV. It's a mash-up of the current styles that have littered our television screens for years, but uses the medical intervention as its centrepiece. 

Meet Arthur Arthur (yes a man with two first names) or Arty (Blake Davis) as he is referred to. Arty is 18 and weighs 400 kilograms. He is the world's heaviest teenager and 'Shocking Fat Stories' is here to help.

 

Throughout the 90-minute show we see a litany of chracters that seem to populate these programs, such as the reformed fatty, the medical expert and the ratings-craving TV producer. They all serve to move the story forward and lend a degree of context to the plot. But it is Arty's mother JoJo (Gia Carides) who is the lynch-pin to this story. She is the perfect balance of caring parent, attention seeking missile and a lonely woman who uses her son as a form of escapism from the harsh realties of the world beyond her front door. 

Overall the production is entertaining and effective. James Browne, Verity Hampson and Steve Toulmin deliver an impressive visual landscape using clever design, lighting and camera techniques that give the impression of a TV show in action. Shannon Murphy's direction is bold and the glue that in some ways makes it look like an intricate movement piece, which is interesting given that Arty hardly moves at all. 

The cast of four is solid. Arka Das as the producer is comical and searingly ambitious, but does come across as slightly one diminesional. Kate Mulvany as Louise - the well meaning Pathways to work officer - also shows signs of parody and a self conscious performance rather than moments of true insight and introspection. The standout is Gia Carides, her portrait of JoJo is capitivating, funny and at times very touching.

But these issues can't neccesarily be just attributed to perfromance. There are some problems with Melissa Bubnic's script. She gets the bold strokes right, but it is the more sublte nuances of the characters that need to be teased out further. This will allow the audience to really connect with the characters and see them for what they are and not just grotesque fodder for fast-food style television.

Whitney Fitzsimmons

Images (from top): Kate Mulvany; Blake Davis and Kate Mulvany and Gia Carides. Photographer: Brett Boardman.

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