Drift

Two Peas productions aims to nurture new and emerging artists. Drift is the work of two young co-writers, Tara Clark and Kieran Foster, and a cast of six young actors who are making their names in the Sydney arts scenes.

The play is about grieving, especially from a young person’s perspective. Five friends in their twenties mourn the death from cancer of a dear friend.  Together they face the different stages of grieving from denial to anger to, eventually, acceptance. It is raw, but not confronting. Some scenes are well-written and quite touchingly directed, but some could definitely do with a little editing – a problem that often occurs when writers take on the difficult task of directing their own work.

The cast – Ayeesha Ash, Challito Browne, Olivia Jubb, Adam Kovarik, Alex Packard and Lauren Pegus – cope well with a series of scenes that move them from good times to bad, from past to present, from almost uncontrollable anger to bitterness. All sustain relatively strong characterisations, developing the relationships in the group convincingly.

The set, designed by Ester Karus Thurn, consists simply of two walls of small paper strips that make a sort of fluttering/flickering  screen on which video tapes of better times – and therefore good memories – are projected. It is an effective device that adds a back story to the plot, but because it is difficult to decifer the images, these segments are demanding to watch and some are just too long.

Nevertheless, Clark and Foster have taken on a difficult subject about which to write and they have done so with understanding and compassion tempered with just a little humour.

Carol Wimmer