Reviews

This was my second encounter with OCPAC and I was again blown away by the professionalism of the production.

Though I hadn’t seen the film, I was aware of Catch Me If You Can the Musical and pleasantly surprised to see how well it adapted to the stage. The music was strongly influenced by jazz, which was very suitable for the subject matter.

The bare stage had a walkway at the back, allowing for different levels, and various pieces of furniture were moved on and off as appropriate, allowing the action to flow. The lighting was excellent.

Tom Davis’s The Faithful Servant is a beautifully crafted, thrilling play, with a fascinating story which questions the sometimes ambiguous morality of providing aid in third-world countries. Set over 51 years, the story follows Dr Raymond Gerard (PJ Williams), a surgeon who single-handedly set up a hospital in Mozambique and an aid organisation with the wonderfully vague name Australians for Hope. Gerard has complex and shifting relationships with his adopted Mozambiquean daughter Caroline and his second-in-charge, Mozambique native Coetano Perreira (Dorian Nkono).

Red Stitch’s strength as a company is finding interesting plays never seen on our shores and presenting them impeccably. Clare Barron’s You Got Older is one such play and her strength as a playwright is a deliciously left of centre view of the world, and family in particular. It may be offbeat, but it’s always truthful. Barron just sees the world through different eyes – eyes that don’t look back, or even forward, but are strongly rooted in NOW…the moment.

Many people will have forgotten or have never heard of Oriel Gray (1920 – 2003), the prolific playwright for the left-wing New Theatre and for radio station 2KY, all the way through to the ABCTV’s Bellbird.  Playwright Merrilee Moss wants us to leave the theatre asking, ‘Who is Oriel Gray – and why haven’t I heard of her before?’  I’d say she succeeds.