On The Production Of Monsters , MTC, May 25, 2012 ***

By Robert Reid, Melbourne Theatre Company

MTC Lawler Studio, May 25 to June 9, 2012

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: *** 1/2

   James Saunders & Virginia Gay. Pic by Jodie Hutchinson.

ROBERT REID'S FAST-MOVING, EPISODIC PLAY, On The Production Of Monsters, hurtles off on a tangent from the political and media scandal that surrounded Bill Henson’s photo of a nude girl.

When cool, inner-city couple, Ben (James Saunders) and Shari (Virginia Gay) unwittingly forward a revealing photo of a naked girl to a keen, young journalist, they are catapulted into a national media scandal and police investigation.

Reid challenges the audience, making us experience vicariously the horrors of being accused of a crime that we have not committed but, meanwhile, forcing us to address our own opinions, prejudices and actions.

Occasionally, Reid’s smart, swift repartee has the whiff of sketch comedy, but his script has a clever dramatic arc, gritty narrative and witty dialogue.

Gay and Saunders provide exceptional performances, playing multiple roles and peopling the stage with a parade of diverse, recognisable, urban types, victims and villains, the powerful and the helpless.

Clare Watson’s direction maintains a rapid, rhythmic pace that emphasises the relentless juggernaut that follows the publication of the offending photo.

Gay portrays superbly Ben’s workplace supervisor – the main culprit who sent the image to Ben as a joke or an absurd seduction – satirising her crude behaviour and making her a ridiculous but powerful, manipulative clown.

Gay is also compelling as Abigail, the well-heeled, snobbish PR executive, and as Shari, the hapless young woman who was only trying to run an environmental clean-up program with local schools.

Saunders captures Ben’s escalating panic and sense of outrage and injustice, as well as playing the pushy, young journalist, an obliging PA and an ambitious lawyer.

Andrew Bailey’s set is inventive, constantly surprising us with imaginative design elements appearing out of the floor, including treadmills to create a gym, a photocopier and a stairwell for the office.

We are left contemplating our own values, biases and assumptions, and we are confronted by the decimation that follows such sensationalised, ill-conceived journalism that leaves innocent lives shattered.

By Kate Herbert

By Kate Herbert