The Great Australian Play, Feb 20, 2020

THEATRE 
Written by Kim Ho 
At Theatre Works, until Feb 29, 2020
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars:** 
 Review published in Herald Sun in print only on Fri 28 Feb, 2020. KH

Jessica Koncic, Sarah Fitzgerald, Tamara Lee Bailey, Sermsah Bin Saad, and Daniel Fischer.-pic Jack Dixon-Gunn

Kim Ho naming his production The Great Australian Play is asking for trouble and almost begging for criticism – so here it comes!

To deconstruct narrative, a playwright must learn to construct narrative. However, what we see is five wannabe filmmakers rambling about the rules of cinema narrative structure, including the ‘Hero’s Journey’, a well-worn, Hollywood model.

Their movie, set in 1930, deals with Lasseter’s purported reef of gold in Australia’s desert centre. The second half, When the Eucalyptus Weeps, includes episodes about a dysfunctional family – perhaps Lasseter’s?

At no point in the deconstructed format does a narrative of any substance emerge. It is a series of parodic sketches aiming to illuminate the Australian condition, history, environment and indigenous culture.

The story of The Fidgeter, introduced at the end of the play, might be developed as the second thread interwoven with Lasseter, but it is bolted on and merely narrated.

 

Although described as an epic, the only thing epic is the 150-minute duration – about 90 minutes too long.

Actors (Jessica Koncic, Sarah Fitzgerald, Tamara Lee Bailey, Sermsah Bin Saad, Daniel Fischer) are committed and energetic, but their efforts are eclipsed by the production’s failings.

Some scenes appropriate, rather than celebrate, indigenous culture, the depiction of a German is racist, the juvenile introduction of a dildo gets cheap laughs and references to burnt koalas are offensive.

Ho’s script is overwritten, impenetrable, informational, with little action. It is riddled with cinematic references, satirical film titles and idiotic script pitches, while Saro Lusty-Cavallari’s direction is static, and his production resembles a university revue.

The play tries to be artful, inventive and satirical but loses coherence and cohesion, so any message is lost in multiple styles and tangled narratives threads.

Anyone unfamiliar with screenwriting processes, modern cinema references or the compelling but dense work of lauded Australian writer, the late Patrick White, will probably feel alienating. Rule 1: never make your audience feel stupid! (That should be Rules 2 and 3 as well!)

Ho inserts himself in the play at the beginning and then the end when he argues with Patrick White about the merit of Ho’s work, a discussion which reveals Ho’s vision to be confused, self-indulgent and incoherent.

This is no longer a joke when such confusion makes a mockery of the theatre it purports to value. How this play won the Patrick White award is as mysterious as Lasseter’s reef.

by Kate Herbert