Heroes of the Fourth Turning

This is an exceptional production of an important modern play and it's unclear why the Sydney Theatre Company hasn’t claimed it for itself. Chekhovian in its comic view of the blighted lives of its characters, it reveals what’s going on in the minds of the followers of that damned modern hero – Donald Trump.

Will Arbery’s thrilling new American play has been nailed by director Craig Baldwin in this quietly absorbing production that is not to be missed.

In February 2017, just days after a deadly supremacist rally in Charlottesville, USA, four old classmates from Wyoming’s red-hot-Catholic Transfiguration College meet to celebrate the appointment of a loved professor to the school presidency. They are all members of the religious right, and brilliantly, fully realised. Their shared faith and politics turn out to be not quite so shared.

‘The Fourth Turning’ is a real book by Neil Howe and William Strauss. It says that civilisation moves in 80-year cycles, each cycle comprises four parts, and the ‘fourth turning’ is a cataclysmic collapse. So, watch out! 

In the grounds of the Catholic school, Justin (Jeremy Waters), his revolver forever riding on the back of his jeans, shoots and kills a stag. That act sets the scene for what follows.

Kevin (Eddie Orton), half-cut by booze, earnestly wrestles with the Virgin Mary’s vaunted place among staff and students. His drunken thoughts lead him in various directions – infatuation, self-pity, tantrum, wonderment.

Teresa (Madeleine Jones), a zealous, almost manic professional conservative, seems ready to jump on a bus to the January 6 Whitehouse insurrection. Miss Jones’ dynamic performance is not to be missed.

Emily (Micaela Ellis) is a ball of rage and yearning, insisting that Teresa’s abortionist friends can still be good people, but her own debilitating illness tests her faith and her sense of self as a woman. 

These four battle it out in the first act before Gina (Kate Raison) - Emily’s Mum - the new president of Transfiguration College - makes her entrance and bumps the action up a couple of notches.

It’s all so frighteningly well-written ­– lyrical, scary and brave. Characters are fraught with confusion, aggression, and fearsome indoctrination. Will Arbery is certain of wide acknowledgement for this work. 

There’s also a terrifying noise that sounds repeatedly during the play. Justin says it’s his generator misfiring, but it sounds like the gates of Hell opening up – and when it strikes, every character doubles over like people in torment, hearing the sound of their own sad, poisoned souls.

Production Designer is Soham Apte and Lighting Designer is Lucia Haddad: both deserve credit for their intense work on this thrilling production.

Frank Hatherley

Photographer: Richard Farland.