Wages of Fear

Wages of Fear is the story of how greed can put individuals at insuperable risk.  Shane Grant’s stage play is inspired by the 1950 novel Le salaire de la peur by Georges Arnaud.  Apparently Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1953 film of this novel is considered, by some, to be one of the most suspenseful films ever made.   

In Metanoia’s production seven actors double up to cover all the necessary roles.  The scene is set - good money will be paid for workers to risk all in a bid to save an oil company from pending ruin. A fire on an oilrig needs to be quelled by desperately volatile nitroglycerine.  Itinerant workers are sought out by an exploitative oil company to truck this dangerous chemical to the fire. 

Fear breeds fear that exposes weaknesses and ultimately unhinges already vulnerable individuals.

The direction (Gorkem Acaroglu) is crisp and clean.  The overall tone of melodrama engages and absorbs the audience’s concentration throughout.  The set by Lara Week is surprising and remarkably successful.  Sound (Kelly-Anne) and lighting (Niklas Pajanti) work in perfect unison to create appropriately strong palpable atmospheres.  

The ensemble acting is uniformly strong, focused and impressive, however it is the two main protagonists who steal the show.

As Gerard, Greg Ulfan is very much a man’s man, confident of his own strength and character and brave to the point of foolhardiness.    Gerard’s character is unshakably motivated by a dream that he is determined to finance.  Ange Arabatzis’s Johnny, the more sensitive and fearful of the two, possibly has more to lose.  Both men portray their characters in a simple straight up fashion without any unnecessary embellishments.

Several times throughout this show I was reminded of Melbourne’s New Theatre of the late 1980s and their drive to put on works that exposed exploitation.

A most engaging and worthwhile evening of theatre – very reasonably priced - totally worth catching.

Suzanne Sandow

Credits

Director – Gorkem Acaroglu

Sound Designer – Kelly-Anne

Lighting Designer – Niklas Pajanti

Set Design – Lara Week

Set Construction – Shanrah Austin

Cast

Gerard – Greg Ulfan

Johnny – Ange Arbatzis

Browning/Bimba/Priest1 – Kotryna Gesalt

Secretary/Luigi/Priest 3 – Adam Mattaliano

O’Brien/Old Man – Brain Davison

Linda/Villager – Melina Wylie

Hernandez/Priest 2/Engineer – Fotis Kapetopoulos