by Michel Gow
M.T.C's schools
program., until June 7, 1996
directed by
Kirsten Von Bibra
Reviewed around May
25 1996
There is something of
a resurrection in Michael Gow's play Away. Two marriages must be salvaged, a
boy's life saved and a woman's mind restored. Relationships are built on sand.
They are fragile, vulnerable and mortal, as are we.
The narrative peeks at the summer holidays of three families
who are tenuously connected through a school production of A Midsummer Night's
Dream. Teenagers, Tom and Meg (Simon Russell & Jennifer Priest) have a
mutual crush which is disapproved of by
Meg's stitched-up mum (Heather Bolton).
Kirsten Von Bibra's production for the M.T.C's schools
program emphasises the lighter, comic elements of the play and surprises the
youthful audiences with those more poignant.
The implication is that these lives are manipulated by some
greater force, namely the fairies from The Dream who squeak and skitter
charmingly as they change sets or conjure a storm to force the families to
share a holiday and, thence, their secret lives.
The company boasts some fine actors. There are lovely comic
performances from Carole Patullo, Robert Lyon as the sweet Lancashire couple
and broad clowns from Don Bridges and Heather Bolton as the edgy, fraught
Aussies. Alan Dale (ex-"Neighbours") as the schoolteacher
demonstrates he can do stage as well as soapies and Joan Murray is sympathetic
as his grief-stricken wife. The two younger actors are energetic but lack some
subtlety.
The piece held its young audience, tilting frequently from
the comic to the dramatic. However, it is unclear why Gow wrote the play ten
years ago. It skims the surface of communication issues, dabbles in analogies
and myth but provides no deeper understanding. There are problems with pace and
dynamic range but it an entertaining show which works at a level appropriate
for high school which is the purpose of this particular production.
KATE HERBERT
300 wds
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