Gruesome Playground Injuries

This play provides substantial emotional challenges for a performer; Kayleen (Katarina Viva Schøller) and Doug (Nicholas Jaquinot) are troubled individuals whose relationship is based on their self-destructive natures. The story is cleverly vignetted at various points in their lives, moving backward and forwards chronologically to give a glimpse into the minor and major catastrophes that frequently bring them together.

New Character Productions attempts to convey both the black humour and enormous pathos of this story. However, the sparse and cold atmosphere of the well-designed set is rarely fully warmed by either the potential for amusement or poignancy.

The sterile hospital environment provides a perfect location for the gross physical and emotional wounds they bear. It is in this removed sphere that their deep love for one another becomes increasingly clear - as do their pathologies. But in this performance the characters seem eternally trapped in infancy and their threat to damage themselves does not seem sufficiently determined or sinister to capture the tragedy of their simultaneous attraction and repulsion.

The limitations of the text require more nuanced portrayals in order to unleash the darkness harboured in the premise of the play. Drawn out costume changes that add little to the characterisations, and limited exploration of a very interesting theatrical space, suggest that there is more to uncover in this production.

Patricia Di Risio