THEATRE
Written, devised, scored and performed by Zachary Kazepis
At La Mama 5-10 April 2022
Digital season follows live season: https://watch.lamama.com.au/pages/home
Reviewer: Kate Herbert Review of digital season recorded on 9 April 2022.
Stars:***
This review published only on this blog. KH
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| Zachary Kazepis- In Blood- pic Darren Gill |
In Blood depicts a young man, hand-cuffed, with his face and hands smeared with blood, seated at a table or pacing the confined space as he relates the story of his short, disappointed life that brought him to this dark moment.
Zachary Kazepis is alone on stage as he tells episodes from the young man’s childhood to an unseen listener. We hear of his beloved Grandma, his uncle and their arrival in this small town to live in a blue, fibro house. He is bullied by other boys and by the school principal until the hate and rage rise inside him.
In Blood charts the man’s journey into blood but keeps the audience in suspense, only revealing the reason for his bloodied appearance in the final minutes of this 45-minute monologue.
He is dejected, depleted, reconciled to his fate. He has clearly lost hope and has faded away to a shadow of himself as he tried to be someone else. In a perfect storm of events, he reaches what appears to be his predetermined and predictable destination.
Kazepis’ writing creates a clear narrative and conjures a vivid, visual landscape populated with a parade of offstage characters that come to life from the young man’s memory, including his Grandma and uncle, his friend Scottie, school bullies and school principal.
The tone of the monologue is conversational, confessional and angst-ridden. Kazepis plays the character as if the air and spirit has been sucked out of him. He is a shell, resigned, shattered, alone and trying to explain and understand his present predicament through his past experiences.
The accompanying soundscape, composed by Kazepis, is often ominous and sometimes gently lyrical.
The story and character are involving, but the performance lacks vocal variation and dynamic range, perhaps because Kazepis aims for the character to be restrained and controlled, with his emotions internalised. It could benefit from a variation in dramatic tension, vocal dynamic, tempo, rhythm, pace, volume, intensity and tone. A director might give it more balance and dynamic energy.
Despite some shortcomings, In Blood has a suspenseful narrative and some evocative dialogue.
By Kate Herbert
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