The Play: Break of Day by Steve Rodgers
The Space: The Merlyn Theatre at The Malthouse
Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
Until 29 August
Stars: 5
This evening had the potential to go awry, considering a large school group turned up just before the lights went down. I was here on spec. I saw Kat Stewart was in the play - she's always fabulous. And with Sarah Goodes directing the show, it was bound to be good.
Thankfully, the students, a group of year eleven theatre studies students from the Middle Eastern suburbs behaved beautifully. I also found out from the teacher who was sitting in front of me, that this is a part of the syllabus.
Lucky kids.
This is exemplary theatre. An engrossing, thought provoking, part tragic, part hopeful drama about life on the fringes.
Pam (Kat Stewart) is a grafter. A single mum from Burra Creek, a place the NBN forget. She had dreams. She has dreams, especially for her daughter Rae (Sherry-Lee Watson), a smart kid who deserves better. Rae's aware that her mum takes three buses each way to do her 12-hour shift at the local retail warehouse where she packs goods for the rest of the country's whims.
At work, Pam has a friend in her supervisor, Sanjeeva (Chum Ehelepola) who looks after her, sometimes taking a blind eye to her small slips. Jedediah (Theo Clarke), a local kid who's in care, and a friend of Rae, works at the warehouse as well, hoping to fund his way into college, and out of the town.
Adding to the action, Pam's father, Rae's Pop (Richard Piper) is busy getting thrown out of his hostel and hell bent on alienating the family. As Rae tries to finish an important assignment on her failing laptop without internet, things start to fall apart.
I will say no more about the plot. The play is testament to a mother's love, what you do for family and the ultimate choices you make when your life on the fringes at the gaps between the haves and have nots explodes.
All of the cast put in extraordinary performances. Kat Stewart nails Pam's fight and fragility. Richard Piper's performance as Pop rivals his turn at playing King Lear a few years ago, where he was also exceptional. Sherry-Lee Watson and Theo Clarke are their perfect foil as the young, bright kids with their futures in their hands.
Anna Cordingley's set, based on the warehouse and Pam's one-bedroom flat on the outskirts of the outskirts is wonderful, and is supported with Paul Jackson's lighting, which brings this all to life.
Check TodayTix for seats - you can pick them up for a steal. This is definitely worth seeing. If it can keep 25 Year Elevens entranced, they're doing their job. Of the school group, the young girl next to me had to leave - it was too much for her - far too much like real life. The number of blowing noses and sniffles at the end was gratifying.
Break of Day is bound to become an Australian classic.
I can't recommend this play enough.
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