Bachelorette

Director Matilda Dixon-Smith and the team that have worked on and produced this show have much to be proud of.  Bachelorette is well managed, beautifully realized, flawlessly put together, finely tuned and smoothly presented.   As the successful outcome of the conscientious work of a skilled youthful team the generous Pozible donors can certainly congratulate themselves on their foresight in supporting this production.

Based on the 2012 film of the same name, Bachelorette is the story of what happens when three young women visit the hotel room of a girl friend who is to be a married the next day.  It is billed as a dark comedy and is troubling in the careless, unkind attitudes the girls exhibit toward each-other and most particularly to Becky the bride to be.

If a man had written this work we would call it misogynist.

Although disturbingly intriguing, the text by female writer Leslye Headland it is a strangely thin.  It feels like the actors are working with subtext rather than text.  They are often performing what generally goes unspoken rather than portraying fully realized characters.

The contempt that borders on hate expressed is saddening and actually it is one of the male characters Joe, played by Conor Misson, who displays the most compassion and sensitivity in his kindness to the drunken Katie, played by Lucie Gavanon.  Gavanon is convincing as the more passive of the unkind trio.  She does, however, need to take care to project her acting throughout – remembering it is the character who is passive not the actor.  

Rebekah Robertson’s Gena is angry, resentful and manic and would do well to moderate this with some reflective moments – however slight.  Holly Brindley brings the right degree of controlling self-satisfaction to Regan; her work is clear, confident and measured. However, again, it would help to contrast this with a glimmering of understanding or guilt to render a more well-rounded character and allow the audience to feel some pathos. 

The set by Gabby Lewis, constructed by Nick Sanders of a hotel room is uncomplicated and clean allowing the characters to feature.  This set does also have its own little quirky subtext like touch.

The endeavor of finding and nurturing a truly female voice is most honorable and probably more difficult then one would anticipate.   Leslye Headland is an American writer, and although place names have been changed to Australian references, it still has a very American feel.  I was left wondering if it would fit together more poetically with American accents.

My contention would be if Twelve Angry want their work to really pack a punch, make a point and be affective for an Australian audience, then as far as writing goes, they need to find and nurture young contemporary Australian women writers.

This provocative production should be a great hit with young audiences and is certainly worth making every effort to catch in its very short season.

Suzanne Sandow 

Credits

Directed by Matilda Dixon-Smith

Producer – Fiona Spitzkowsky

Set Design – Gabby Lewis

Costume Designer – Hannah Crone

Cast

Gena – Rebekah Robertson

Katie – Lucie Gavanon

Regan – Holly Brindley

Jeff – Joshua Monaghan

Joe – Conor Misson

Becky – Sara Tabitha Catchpole