Steve Rodgers’ new play, Savage River, about life on Tasmania’s West Coast, had its world premiere recently at the Stables Theatre in Darlinghurst, Sydney, and will play there until 18 July. The production — a joint effort by the Tasmanian Theatre Company, the Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney’s Griffin Theatre Company — will then play at the MTC Theatre in Melbourne from 22 July to 8 August, and at Hobart’s Backspace Theatre from 13-22 August.
SANDRA BOWDEN attended opening night in Sydney and penned this review:
Driving north from Queenstown in Tasmania, after about 100 kilometres you would reach the turnoff to Savage River. Another 73 kilometres west and you’d be there — in one of the state’s most isolated areas outside a national park.
The only reason the place even exists appears to be for the iron-ore mine. And if you wanted to get away from it all, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more out-of-the-way place.
This is the setting for Steve Rodgers’ Savage River, a new, unflinching and ultimately hopeful story of liberation, redemption and strength.
Kingsley (Ian Bliss) and his 17-year-old son Tiger (Travis Cardona) eke out a living in a hut on the river. One night at the pub, Kingsley rescues a rather inebriated visitor, Jude (Peta Sergeant), from the opportunistic advances of the local lads.
Kingsley’s less than altruistic motives result in Jude staying longer than one night. As the three get to know each other, Kingsley and Jude’s pasts come rushing into the present with devastating force. Tiger is swept along in their wake.
Three very clever and capable actors play these intriguing characters, and director Peter Evans has skilfully drawn out their vulnerabilities and strengths.
Bliss balances Kingsley’s less palatable characteristics with his very believable desire to protect his son. Cardona gives a ‘sublime’ (nod to the script) performance of Tiger’s innocence and desire. Sergeant is brittle, fervent and intriguing — and her portrayal of drunkenness is alarmingly realistic …
The language weaves effectively between naturalistic, sometimes brutal dialogue to elegiac, fluid and heartbreaking. Tiger’s sensitive and innocent depiction of the life of the muttonbirds beautifully parallels his own contracted existence.
It is well worth buying the script-cum-program in order to read through the text afterwards. Rodgers’ stage directions are as lyrical as the dialogue, and provide the reader with vivid mental pictures.
Discussion with the actors afterwards reinforced how evocative his writing is, and how well it assisted in the development of character and place.
The collaboration between the creative team is evident in the smooth interconnection of action, visual and sound. To create any set in the cramped space at The Stables is always an achievement. To manage to depict an isolated area — on the banks of a river yet! — is the mark of an incredibly talented designer in Stephen Curtis.
Jed Kurzel’s haunting music is a landscape of its own … at times barely noticeable, at others a powerful entity in its own right.
Navigate this river. It’s worth the trip.
Sandra Bowden
NOTE: Review provided courtesy of http://www.ozbabyboomers.com.au
