The Bridge

“Grappling with power is – among others – a woman’s lot. With that comes anger – and rage.” (Lucinda Gleeson director). And she’s right – whether the women are Gen X or Gen Z, like the women in this play, or 1970s feminists … or suffragettes … or Jane Austen … or Elizabeth I … or a 15-year-old intimidated by her manager at McDonalds. The rage is there, and even though it may, as Gleeson continues, appear to quieten as they age, “it still lives, seething and spiky, kicking against the pricks.”

That rage is central to The Bridge, and it’s raw and wild – because the play is about fighting back, standing your ground, taking control. The script is confronting. The playwrights don’t bow to language conventions or perceived social niceties. They tell it like it is – brutally, viscerally – and Gleeson directs with similar intensity on a dark set (Kate Beere) hemmed in with microphones, amps and ATA cases and spattered with fluorescent graffiti tags.

The music industry and artistic control are the symbolic “pricks” the play is kicking against. Amber, the symbolic Gen X singer finds that her hit song “Medusa’s Curse” has been recorded by TikTokker Alyssa and, along with a kinky dance, has gone viral. It’s Amber’s song – and she’s angry – but she’s also struggling against alcohol, drugs and a sense of failure. Egged on by that “seething rage”, a grasping promoter-manager – and a caring son – she fights back.

Zoe Carides takes Amber on a rough emotional ride through despair, frustration, anger and determination to validation … and hope. She gives Amber an energy that is gutsy and instinctive, crawling her out of drugged-induced self-pity to sober strength, calm confidence and feisty fightback.

Alyssa’s journey is different! It’s easy to sing and dance in front of a smart phone with a recorded backing! Not so easy on a stage with a live audience and cameras. Clare Hennessy takes Alyssa from screen confidence to fearful uncertainty and eventual assurance – and meets Amber on the stage that bridges the void between them.

Supporting these “bad assed women” in this “punk story” are Saro Lepejian who plays Amber’s health conscious and very level-headed son Layne, and Brendan Miles who is the pushy, money-hungry, seize-every-opportunity-manager Phil. Matt Abotomey plays several roles including a TV interviewer and show host, and Andrea Mugpalong is both Amber’s long-standing friend, guitarist Toni and Ayssa’s agent Poppy.

Gleeson pushes the pace in this production – a pace that is necessary to sustain the “kick ass” anger of the women involved – a pace that is established quickly and almost defiantly by Carides in the opening moments of the play. So much so that the opening scenes seem to be unnecessarily wordy, even a little repetitious.

Nevertheless, Gleeson’s direction ensures that this premiere production of The Bridge has the punch and impact that its writers intended! It’s fast and feisty – and contemptuously contemporary.

Carol Wimmer

Photographer: Andrea Magpulong