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| Benedict Hardie (L) and Anne-Louise Sarks (R). Image Supplied. |
What – By Their
Own Hands, by The Hayloft Project, part of the MTC’s Neon Festival of Independent
Theatre
Where and When – MTC Lawler Studio, 13-23 June, 2013
Reviewer - Joe Calleri.
Stars - 2 and a half.
Stars - 2 and a half.
A dark prophecy in which a son slays his father, then marries his
mother becomes true, with cataclysmic consequences for an unsuspecting city. Not
a spoiler for an episode of Revenge,
but a synopsis of Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King.
The Hayloft Project’s Benedict Hardie and Anne-Louise Sarks,
present audiences with three distinct artistic interpretations of the Oedipus
tragedy. By Their Own Hands is the result, and it will polarise audiences.
The longest, most enjoyable and illuminating of three acts, Act One
has the audience join the casually attired, charming, engaging Hardie and Sarks
on stage as the two recount the story of Oedipus. To further the storytelling,
several audience members become key characters from the tragedy (Laius, Jocasta,
Polybus, Merope, and Oedipus) if only in name and personal characteristics.
However, Hardie and Sarks missed a perfect opportunity to allow
their audience to genuinely participate in the production by either reading lines
or performing the story.
The playful engagement created by the first act is decimated by
the next two, while Hardie and Sarks deconstruct the tragedy into two increasingly
minimal, and darker parts.
A giant sheet of clear plastic Hardie unfurls to cover a bare
stage provides an omen of the gratuitous ghoulishness that follows, some of
which may offend theatre goers: buckets of fake blood, full female nudity, and
a graphically staged suicide.
In Act Three, Hardie and Sarks face the audience in the now dimly
lit space, and envision Oedipus and his mother, Jocasta, during key moments of
their doomed relationship. They drift from awkward banter about having
children, to outright mawkishness as Oedipus sings a silly ditty to the unborn
child in Jocasta’s womb.
This 80-minute production will certainly generate fiery debate over
post-show cappuccinos about the risks and merits of deconstructing classic
texts.
