ROAM

ROAM
By Adam Cass. Directed by Gary Abrahams. Red Stitch Actors Theatre, St Kilda. 10 October – 9 November, 2013.

Adam Cass’ ROAM opens with couple, Johnny and Julia, sitting down to dinner, mobile phones prominently placed on the table alongside their meals – one small example of modern technology obtruding into their lives. From the start it’s clear this couple are having some problems – but their lack of communication is about to get much worse.

While Julia tries to avoid phoning her mum in the aftermath of her dad’s death, Johnny withdraws from her – rather than come to bed he spends his nights visiting internet chatrooms and porn sites, looking for someone to connect with. When he meets a 13-year-old Estonian girl online, she convinces him to join her in a virtual gaming world – and soon he’s in the Roman army fighting Boudica.

This well thought out and cleverly constructed play focuses on the temptation to immerse oneself in a virtual world at the expense of realworld connections and relationships, on the disconnect between reality and escapism and the blurred line between the two. As the increasingly obsessed Johnny, Tim Potter moves from withdrawn in his realworld state to utterly immersed in his new virtual identity, setting free his repressed warrior instincts but at the expense of his relationship. The catalyst for this change is the girl he meets online, finely played by Ngaire Dawn Fair who convincingly evokes a mixture of childlike naivety and burgeoning sexuality. As Johnny’s floundering girlfriend Julia, the engaging Ella Caldwell has the most challenging role - she starts out as troubled, is never less than bewildered, and seems constantly in a no-win situation, especially given her ongoing willingness to put up with Johnny’s unsympathetic, withdrawn state. Caldwell tackles this difficult part with intelligence, giving us a character who’s clearly trying to cope with her own unspoken issues.

The play is well paced and staged by director Gary Abrahams and makes clever use of backlighting to take us into the world of chatrooms, with a terrifically designed and executed montage of internet porn sites and associated social media, as well as a virtual world setting which seemed deliberately reminiscent of the groundbreaking movie Tron. It’s a well designed, performed and directed piece which deals with an issue of increasing relevance to today’s society and offers plenty to take home and think about.

Alex Paige

Images: Ella Caldwell & Ngaire Dawn Fair; Tim Potter and Ngaire Dawn Fair & Ella Caldwell. Photographer: Jodie Hutchinson.

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