THEATRE
Written by Eva Rees, by Darebin Speakeasy
At Darebin Arts, until 23 March 2025
Reviewer: Kate Herbert
Stars: ** (2)
This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 15 March 2025. KH
DJUNA is Eva Rees’ 90-minute play that tracks a series of clandestine meetings between Marcus, a middle-aged, wealthy, apparently heterosexual man (Dion Mills), and a submissive young, trans woman (Jay Gold) who is initially names herself Chloe or Casey but, by the end of the play, is identified as Djuna.
In their intimate and secret encounters over about two years, the pair engages in a dominant- submissive relationship that explores fantasies that verge on the dangerous and culminate in graphic violence. As the relationship progresses, Djuna is medically transitioning and becoming more confident, while Marcus is increasingly delusional.
The play explores power, identity, generational differences, mental illness and some broader social issues. Rees and director Kitan Petkovski employ a fusion of styles that includes bloody horror, psychological thriller, naturalistic drama and socio-political commentary.
The two performers are capable; Gold captures the coy, under-confidence and submissiveness of Djuna, while Mills finds an underlying, sometimes overt danger in the character of Marcus (He’s always a compelling presence in Red Stitch shows).
There are some problems arising from the script and direction. The blending of styles sometimes slides into confusion, while Kitan Petkovski’s production is patchy with uneven pacing and some uncomfortably slow-moving dialogue.
Rees script is uneven and the many and disparate narrative threads are not effectively integrated, including the repeated references to: politically motivated protests – or are they riots? – outside the hotel room; Marcus’s wife and daughter; to Djuna’s family; and her struggles with gender identity, self-harm and mental illness.
The characters’ episodic meetings are peppered with meandering dialogue that ranges from inconsequential chit chat to overwrought and oddly philosophical, socio-political exchanges or diatribes. The characters and their problems are strangely unmoving, while the production’s attempts to scare, horrify or trigger the audience are strangely ineffective.
The soundscape is distressingly – and intentionally – jarring, intrusive and loud, while the scene changes are bizarre, to say the least; Two ASMs, clad in white, crime scene overalls and hazard masks, silently change the set under the pretext of cleaning up the hotel room. Their actions, dress and the bloody traces visible under ultra-violet light, telegraph the impending violence, and their silent overacting undercuts any tension and dilutes the intensity of the scenes.
Ultimately, the production feels both cluttered with themes and, simultaneously, lacking in depth. Perhaps, with more rigorous dramaturgy, a stronger, more concise and moving play might emerge.
by Kate Herbert
Cast Jay Gold and Dion Mills
Creative Team
Written by Eva Rees
Directed by Kitan Petkovski
Stage and costume design by Bethany J Fellows AV and sound design by James Paul
Produced by Bullet Heart Club |
| Dion Mills (with cigarette) & Jay Gold in DJUNA by Eva Rees_image Darren Gill |
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