Presented by: Carving in Ice Theatre Director: Gaye Poole Starring: Mandy Faulkner, Sara Young, Fiona Sneyd, Julianne Boyle Venue: Surrealist Garden, Hamilton Gardens Arts Festival
An eager crowd made their way into the Surrealist Garden for the international debut of an outdoor performance of Caryl Churchill’s Escaped Alone. Cicadas shrilled and a cool breeze fluttered through the sunny precinct. The play was set to take place beneath the famous trons (yes, those sinister spiky finger vine-clad creations really are called trons).
Churchill’s works are ‘widely recognised for abandoning realist approaches to theatre in favour of surrealist experimentation.’ Churchill is considered one of the world’s greatest playwrights and over her many decades of writing has bent the rules and explored fragmented dialogue. Escaped Alone is one of her more recent works and is based around four companions chatting over multiple afternoon teas.
The women discuss day-to-day topics and then delve into personal tragedies via fascinating soliloquies. Faulkner’s character Mrs Jarrett dishes multiple doom and gloom monologues about an apocalyptic future, and Sneyd’s Vi divulges a murderous past. Faulkner’s delivery of ‘terrible rage’ was akin to Meisner’s repetition exercise and showed an extraordinary depth of emotion and vulnerability.
Poole’s direction was intriguing as she chose to keep the actors seated, with only Mrs Jarrett standing for her monologues. Given that Churchill is known for brief, if any, director’s notes, Poole had free reign to create this memorable piece, which she did.
Unfortunately, the venue choice was to the production’s detriment. Only the first two rows of seating had decent views. Speakers were set up but only for the purpose of playing Gareth Farr’s beautiful compositions. It was disappointing that the players were not mic’d in this space as voice projection takes considerable skill. Had there been staging for the set and microphones in use, the experience would have been even better.
Sound bleeds are part and parcel of an outdoor festival and in this instance the smooth tunes wafting in from other venues were in stark contrast to the disjointed dialogue. Churchill’s play was filled with unfinished sentences and characters talking over each other. This approach took some getting used to as the rhythm of the dialogue felt startling in places.
Escaped Alone allows directors to create and mature actors to play.
If you prefer realist approaches to theatre, this piece may challenge you. If surrealist experimentation is your cup of tea, Escaped Alone will deliver in spades.
Image: Megan Goldman
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