The Web

The Web
By Kate Mulvany. Bakehouse Theatre (SA). Directed by Yasmin Gurreeboo. October 23 – November 2, 2013.

Most 16 year olds are quite familiar with social networks and the internet. They are consistently chatting online using various social media, whether it is to blog or Skype, and using the net to entertain and inform.

However, in The Web, by Australian playwright Kate Mulvany, Fred (Michael Lemmer) doesn’t use Facebook, Twitter, or Bebo.  In fact, he’s just trying to get past a terrible family tragedy which compounds his shy, insecure personality and his disappointing school marks.

Set on a rural property in country Australia, where everyone knows everyone’s business and farming is harsh on families, Fred feels lonely and socially ostracised. He is quite surprised when charismatic head boy at school, Travis (Andrew Thomas) offers his assistance with his social studies assignment. Fred is uncomfortable with the idea of a social experiment but takes up the hand of friendship.  When he is taken to the local police station for questioning over a violent incident the story becomes intriguing and a little dark.

Michael Lemmer and Andrew Thomas give genuine performances as Fred and Travis.  Lemmer is shy and sincere, against Thomas’s manipulative but engaging Travis, and both are very watchable.

Amy Victoria Brooks is Fred’s mum, Ivy, who battles against loneliness herself. Brooks gives a solid characterisation of a woman making sure her children are always put first.

Nathan Porteus, playing Sgt Tukovsky, and Delia Taylor as Susan, complete the ensemble.  Porteus is a touch unconvincing in places, seeming ill at ease in the confined spaces. Other actors also at times appear awkward and uncomfortable in the small ‘rooms’. Taylor’s Susan is an online presence who is perky and entertaining even though she never physically interacts with anyone.

Manda Webber’s set successfully uses wooden pallets on castors that can double as desks or tables as the scenes shift.

Director Yasmin Gurreeboo’s scene changes, although efficient, are choreographed with jerky activity and flickering lights as the action jumps back and forth in time. These spasmodic movements are continued during some of the narration and on a whole don’t seem to work well within the play, especially inside the confined rooms.

Surprisingly, there is a dash of humour in this tense production, in which an isolated teenager is interacting in a social setting outside his comfort zone, and where circumstances get dangerously out of hand.

Sharon Malujlo

PREVIEW AND BUY THE SCRIPT HERE.

Photos: Ian Routledge.

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