Rent

Rockdale’s Rent is far more colourful and moving than its grim black and white promotional material suggests.  This update of La Boheme to turn-of-millennium New York hasn’t dated and retains much of its punch.

Of the principals, Marcus Hurley as Mark, Charles McComb as Roger, and Sherry-Anne Hayes as Joanne stood out for me. They were always in character, in “the moment”, and had good command of their roles and projection.

This is a show where the Ensemble really shone: Tara Barr, Alexandra Green, Crystal Jane, (a nervous looking) Joseph Nalty, Mario Nowfal, Alexis Terry, and Liv Wassef were great to watch in their ensemble roles as homeless, PLWHIV, dealers, police, window cleaners, or on-stage voice-mail.

Liv Wassef’s solo in Seasons of Love is a highlight. Ditto for the Tango Maureen, the men’s duet in What You Own, and the Act 1 Chorale from the HIV support group. Cast aside, John Plaege’s props are also an asset.

Opening night was marred by poor diction. So much so that if I hadn’t seen the show before I would not have known what was going on. Hopefully this has now been fixed and the cast are now enunciating – if not over-enunciating – their words.

First-time director Kate Berger does an efficient job setting scenes in different locations on the stage. However, I felt a smaller stage would have been more effective, if only just to reduce the upstage distance from the audience. The upstage area felt so far away that everything blocked there lost its impact on me. I also noticed cast spending a lot of time trying to get from Point A to Point B, resulting in lost energy. Whilst removing the wings to reveal the stage walls and Exits looked effective, it made everything feel cavernous and empty when there was such a relatively small cast. It also made noticeable some of the cast dropping character as they walked off or toward the playing area.

I note in the well-produced programme that the cast photos show everyone giving us their best resting bitch face.  I know this is a show about the homeless and the ill surviving on the streets, but even they had reason to smile now and then.

Peter Novakovich

Photographer: Alexis Pana.