Reviews

Occasionally, theatre leaves me breathless and awestruck, and this Sydney Theatre Company production, adapted and directed by Kip Williams from one of Oscar Wilde’s best known 1891 works, is one such example. Quite simply, 37 year old Eryn Jean Norvill has been given the role of a lifetime and has delivered the performance of a lifetime.

You walk into the theatre for this show, and the main set, half lit, waiting, redolent with possibility, immediately reminds you of Edward Hopper’s ‘Night Hawks’.  Or it did me.  It’s not a copy.

Chase is a character that is close to Carly Sheppard’s heart and could even be seen as a kind of alter ego; the uninhibited part of ourselves that makes us confront the more troubling aspects of our existence. Chase is an eclectic collection of contemporary social identities ranging from the bogan to the superficial social media influencer. The ease with which Sheppard transitions between these various personas elicits a sense of madness or schizophrenia. The performance is undoubtedly chaotic in a carnivalesque and subversive manner.

Fire in the Head tells the story of Kate Kelly, sister of Ned.  Her story has been overshadowed by his – ignored by ‘history’.  The play is a combination of research and imaginative speculation.  It is beautifully written and it’s fascinating because it takes us into the unknown life of an historical figure.  Kate’s story, as remembered and told by her, is one of police persecutions suffered by her family (to which she attributes Ned’s crimes) and the varied routes and careers she took to escape hardship and poverty – ho