Naked & Screaming

La Boite’s first production for 2021 is a world premiere of a new Australian work by Mark Rogers. Inspired by his own psychologically and physically draining journey with his partner as their lives changed after the birth of their first child, Naked & Screaming chronicles a year in the life of Emily and Simon – a vaguely hipster-ish couple who have added a new baby to their lifestyle mix. He’s in advertising and she’s in publishing and baby Dylan seems to enter their lives without much forethought. As the title suggests, what ensues is not all sitcom and smiling selfies – although there are glimpses of that side to new parenthood as the scenes start out with much laughter of recognition from the audience at some of the situations, the stress, the lack of sleep, the dented dignity. In a fast-forward montage, we see the usual parenthood situations encroaching on the couple’s life like the washing baskets that keep piling up in their home – a starkly simple stage set with a central motif designed by Chloe Greaves and lit by Lighting Designer Ben Hughes to constantly remind us that these parents are also not far from childhood themselves.

Simon and Emily are smashing it – high-fiving each other: “we got this”… and then Simon has to travel overseas for work. First there’s a shuffling of home-based responsibilities and an unspoken argument about whose job is more important. The couple focus on the external elements within their control – rules about mobile device use, advice from cool parent websites, ‘to do’ list apps – to keep going, but there’s no emotional fix – and certainly not the extended family support that they would have enjoyed a couple of generations ago. And then something happens to isolated and sleep-deprived Emily that will bring the relationship to breaking point – the warm comedy washes off the stage like an ocean rip, leaving a shoreline of detritus and our couple all out to sea. Guy Webster’s sound design and music help to shift our mindset as things take a u-turn.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that caffeine cravings are a villain of sorts in this Millennial tale – and that is the kind of underlying humour that playwright Mark Rogers toys with. Rogers is a writer who very much believes in telling Australian stories. In 2019 he was awarded Griffin Theatre Company’s Griffin Award for new Australian writing for his play Superheroes – another two-hander also featuring a woman called Emily. Naked & Screaming is distinguished by Rogers’ intelligent, witty dialogue and an unexpected story trajectory, bolstered by Director Sanja Simić’s confident pace. Simić has worked with Rogers before on the Bodysnatchers’ production of his play Plastic for the Old 505 Theatre in Sydney. They worked together to develop Naked & Screaming in conjunction with Playwriting Australia. We need more conversation-starting stage stories like this; there’s something satisfying about hearing Brisbane suburbs and surrounds name-checked, and in recognising characters situated in your home town. While the tone of Naked & Screaming covers ground similar to Bell and Scheller’s TV sitcom The Letdown, (middle-class career-focused people coping with the PTSD of parenthood) here we have to contend with brutally real relationship ruptures. An abrupt ending may leave some viewers wondering what the writer’s key message is for modern love and parenthood – and whether he sees any hope. Are the Simons and Emilys of the world trapped in their own self-centred, perpetual childhood?

The fast pace and sudden turns certainly pack in some acting punches for its performers – and they rise to the challenge. Just like our multi-tasking main characters, the creative team behind Naked & Screaming are achievers in many fields. Emily Burton is one of the Playlab writers responsible for Rising, currently playing at Metro Arts. She is also a versatile performer, as evidenced by her body of work so far which features comedy, drama and puppets (Storm Boy, Single Asian Female, The Wider Earth). Jackson McGovern is a Matilda Award winner for his supporting role in the innovative The Owl and the Pussycat, and a nominee for Death of a Salesman – oh, and he can sing and write too. This is the perfect chance to catch these two performers flex their ‘Rom-dram’ muscles and enjoy the creative precinct at La Boite’s Roundhouse.

Beth Keehn

Photosgrapher: Morgan Roberts