The Peach Season

The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild showcases yet another fine contemporary Australian play, with a solid staging of Debra Oswald’s The Peach Season. This bittersweet coming of age story rehashes many familiar, timeworn conventions of the genre, but contains enough unexpected, idiosyncratic nuances to emerge as fresh and relevant to a modern audience. The intelligent handling of universal themes, combined with candid performances from the entire cast and finely detailed production design result in a deeply immersive theatre experience.

Reeling from the tragic death of her husband in a botched robbery, Celia (Emma Kerr), retreats to rural NSW with her daughter, Zoe (Zoe Muller), where she builds a new life for herself running a Peach orchard with crusty Hungarian immigrant, Dorothy (Susan Nelle). Zoe grows into a rebellious adolescent, as her overprotective mother seeks to limit her interaction with the potentially cruel outside world. A serpent enters this garden of Edenic splendour, when kindly lawyer Joe (James Black) urges Celia to employ a brother and sister pair of itinerant fruit pickers, Kieran & Sheena (James Watson & Ellie McPhee). The naïve and perpetually curious Zoe is drawn to the mysterious, psychologically troubled Kieran, but the isolation of her upbringing ill prepares her for the harsh realities of first love.

Though certain beats in the narrative are predictable, the story has some intriguing twists and the dialogue has a raw, earthy authenticity that is consistently engaging. Each of the characters is deeply flawed, making morally objectionable decisions, yet all retain some measure of sympathy, embodying struggles which anyone can relate to at some point in their life.

The emotional sensitivity of the cast helps enormously in making potentially alienating characters relatable to the audience. Both Kerr and McPhee play ineffectual carers with a strong, gritty determination that makes you root for them despite their many failings. Muller and Watson have a disarmingly playful chemistry as the tentative young lovers, which endures even as their relationship takes a darker turn in the second act. Nelle and Black play their roles with a relaxed affability that inspires trust, even as they enable the worst aspects of the other characters. The Peach Season is basically a case study of how good people can do bad things, and the cast realise this, resisting the temptation to present any of these characters as obvious heroes or villains.

The orchard environment is as much a character in this play as any of the humans that live there, and it’s a credit to the production team. Each element of the sets, costumes and props contains visually striking elements, whilst at the same time serving a clearly defined, practical function in the context of the story.

Those on the lookout for something groundbreakingly original will be disappointed by this, but ultimately, The Peach Season is a simple tale, well told. Surely that is something worthy of applause (the opening night audience seemed to think so anyway).

Benjamin Orchard

Images (from top): Emma Kerr & James Black, James Watson & Zoe Muller, and Susan Nelle and Ellie McPhee.