Cathedral

Caleb Lewis’ Cathedral is (as the playwright has stated) ‘a play about a diver still haunted by loss, still lost in the deep and the dark. It asks why do some of us sink when others swim? What draws us down into the dark and what calls us back into the light?’ This is fully realized in Shannon Rush’s excellent production for the State Theatre of South Australia.

Cathedral is a 90-minute one-man show that is part ‘Australian Gothic’ and sentimental confessional drama. It is full of ghosts and demons that are triggered when a ‘Diver’, superbly played by Nathan O’Keefe’, finds himself trapped in an underwater cave known as ‘The Cathedral’ in the Limestone Coast near Mount Gambier. In the retelling of this life story, primarily via ‘flashbacks’, it is sometimes uncertain whether or not these ghosts are good or evil. One particular spinechilling moment occurs when the Diver, exploring an underwater cave, suddenly discovers the handbag of his missing mother. This is just one of a number of such ‘gothic’ moments in this often-creepy play, when the ghosts of the past emerge from the dark water with their spectre-like hands to drag down (or release) the Diver from the guilt, depression and despair of his past. As the Caleb Lewis states, ‘Sometimes it is easier to let go.’

Director Shannon Rush and her creative team, which includes Kathryn Sproul (Set and Costume Design), Mark Oakley (Lighting/Video Designer), and Andrew Howard (Sound Designer/Composer) and Bridget Samuel (Stage Manager) have created a truly excellent production that is continually engaging and surprising. Central to this production is Nathan O’Keefe’s ‘Diver’. It is a remarkable tour-de-force by this terrific South Australian actor, particularly capturing power through stillness.

Ultimately, Cathedral is a play about redemption. I found the ‘Gothic’ element of this play and production the most successful, reminding me at times of the unsettling nature of M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water, as well as Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, the opera version by Benjamin Britten recently produced by the South Australian Opera company. If I found the final 20 minutes a little too sentimental with the need to have a neat and happy ending, it is a mere quibble to the overall excellence of this play, production, and performance.

Cathedral is part of a wonderful initiative by SATC’s Artistic Director, Mitchell Butel, in producing new South Australian plays; in this case dealing with the majestic beauty and mystery surrounding the numerous underwater caves in the Limestone Coast. Furthermore, this production is set to tour rural and regional South Australia; such an imitative can only be applauded.

Tony Knight

Photographer: Matt Byrne.