Belvoir – 25a
13 June, 2023
This is my second show at Belvoir’s 25A space (following on from The Italians, which I continue to be obsessed with, and is playing on Aussie Theatre Live right meow). I am so impressed with the quality of works in this space- absolutely worth incorporating into your theatre budget, as it’s always incredible value.
Author Jojo Zhou has created something very special here – deeply dramatic, at times hysterical, and eerily relevant with its commentary on artificial intelligence. This was fused with brilliant direction by Eve Beck, who left crumbs and teasers for us to follow as the story unfurled. Audience members made comparisons to Shutter Island, and Everything, Everywhere All At Once (you’ll see why), which is a testament to the way Zhou and Beck discreetly presented a mystery, and quietly answered it at a comfortable pace.
Acting wise, this show belongs to Lou, played by the indomitable Meg Clarke. Clarke starts as a rough around the edges mother at the end of her tether, but begins to quickly unravel. Despite mining the depths of her trauma, Clarke never loses her grit, her charm. Even playing a younger version of herself, Clarke impressively swaps her jaded outlook for an acerbic yet optimistic one. Clarke is immensely talented, and I look forward to watching her career continue to grow.
Luke Leong-Tay primarily portrays Jonah, Lou’s significant other (though if their relationship was Facebook official, it would be ‘it’s complicated’). Leong-Tay has quite in impressive resume, but most recently I’ve seen him as part of Hayes’ insanely brilliant Dubbo Championship Wrestling, so it was interesting to see him in a less eccentric role. He easily endears the audience, and wins is over at the same time as Lou, as we watch elements of their meet cute. And he is especially powerful playing modern day Jonah, where his helplessness, frustration and love are intermingled on his expressive face.
All I can say about Jane Mahady is that she is a remarkable talent on and off stage: moving between nurturing and chilling sometimes within the same sentence. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I can’t comment much on her performance, being able to do SO MUCH within the tight confines of a particular role is the trademark of true brilliance (and this extends to Zhou and Beck as well).
Carlos Sanson Jr is most well known from the tv show Bump, and is a big part of what drew my curiosity about the piece (having recently binged all four seasons on a long haul flight). In this piece, Sanson proves he is so much more than Santi. Without spoiling the spontaneity of the production, Sanson takes on a variety of roles and showcases his physical comedy, as well as darker and more dangerous sides to his physicality. And another of his roles was equal parts hilarious & charming, and featured excellent accent work. I can’t wait to see what he’s in next.
Rounding out the cast is the multifaceted Loretta Kung. Kung appears in several roles throughout the piece, and no matter how wacky the direction may have sounded, she delivers the performances with extreme sincerity and care. She has perhaps the most challenging costumes to work with, but appears effortless in her portrayals. Much like Mahady, she often times must whirl on the spot to deliver two radically different reactions, and helps to ground the piece as it reaches an emotional crescendo.
In the performance I saw, at perhaps the apex of this crescendo, unexpected technical difficulties required a stoppage of the show. Despite a confusing sound heard by the audience, the actors hadn’t faltered at all, so the first time we actually saw that a pause was needed was when the stage manager came out. The Stage Manager, House Manager and cast worked diligently to get the show back on track after a short pause. I mention this because the professionalism, the efficiency, and the expediency of the entire production team and venue meant that, when things go haywire (as they can in live theatre, which is why we love it), the must go on, and on it went. Kudos to all involved, in particular Meg Clarke, whose emotional journey was impacted the most, and brought us quickly back into the moment with her.