Rising

Most writers agree with the mantra: the best way to learn how to write is to just write! But what if you want to be a playwright? There’s only so much you can accomplish without hearing actors read your lines, and only so much you can discover about the production process without the reality of a looming opening night deadline followed by an audience’s reaction. Rising has been developed as an emerging female playwrights commission by Playlab Theatre, a group that develops new Australian theatre with playwrights at the heart of the creative process. In this instance, the challenge of creating a main-stage piece was the work of five Brisbane-based writers – Hannah Belanszky, Madeleine Border, Emily Burton, Lauren Sherritt and Sarah Wilson – in conjunction with dramaturgs, award-winning playwright Kathryn Marquet and Playab Theatre Artstic Director and CEO, Ian Lawson, who also provided the original concept. The writers are Brisbane-based creatives with diverse backgrounds and experiences, including Queensland Premier’s Drama Award finalists, published writers, Fringe award winners, Matilda-Award-winning performers, artists in residence, teachers, and graduates of Queensland’s writing and drama courses and young writers’ programmes. Rising’s intersecting-story structure is possibly how the writers worked – each taking a section to give voice to –  and it works for the story and array of characters. This group of creatives have honed an interesting script that pieces together five individual stories that intersect over one day in an unnamed island off the coast of Australia. As protesters clash with the government, action escalates – is it an act of terror? The islanders are suddenly faced with rising sea levels, contaminated water, shortage of supplies. With their resources happily plundered in the past by colonial Australia, will their neighbours now step in and help? Or will they be left to their own leadership’s devices?

The concurrent scenarios and multiple characters are portrayed by only three actors. And Director, Kate Wild (writer/director of The Sound of a Finished Kiss) has cast a robust and reliable trio. Matilda-Award-winning Steven Rooke gives a strong performance, embodying the forces of colonialism on the island, playing a cynical fly-in-fly-out worker, a government security guard, and an aggressive News Group producer. For a script that deals with female strengths, it must have been tempting to cast Rooke as the Island’s political leader. But to show that power can corrupt anyone, that role is taken by the fabulous Ling Cooper Tang (whose previous screen roles include Aunty Rose in The Family Law, Top of the Lake, and The Secrets She Keeps). Fortunately, alongside the serious themes, there is much humour in the script as well and Tang’s chief minister in crisis plays like she has been displaced in an episode of Yes, Minister – while chaos prevails around her, she remains solely intent on pushing ahead with sanitised press briefings and launching the new government institute of economic achievement. Like all ‘good news’ stories, it potentially masks unseen horrors – and Tang really finds the balance in a terrific performance. Her versatility is proven as she also tackles distinct roles as a government whistleblower and UN medico. Chenoa Deemal (recently seen in Belvoir’s Cursed, Ensemble Theatre’s Black Cockatoo, and the Grin & Tonic Australian and US tour of The 7 Stages of Grieving) has several roles, key of which are a hashtag-obsessed journalist, and a marine biologist.

A main theme is that, among the politics, a game-changing scientific discovery is at risk of being lost forever. There’s no doubting the impending sense of danger as the  islanders become surrounded by water, with not a drop to drink. This is reinforced by an edgy sound design by Anna Whitaker and a post-apocalyptic and watery stage design and lighting by Ella Lincoln and Christine Felmingham. While I sometimes felt a little distanced from the sense of urgency by the play’s multiple story format, it certainly provides the opportunity for some strong performances and a great piece of theatre that deals with some important themes in an accessible way.

Beth Keehn

Photographer: Justine Walpole