Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes

It’s an age-old story, now with more teeth thanks to MeToo alerts – an illicit sexual relationship between an esteemed academic and novelist and his awed teenage student.

Canadian writer Hannah Moscovitch however steps us back from predictable outrages by telling us her story through male eyes.  Jon even speaks to us in the third person, from his desk of power and celebrity, or pacing the stage in guilt and moral fence-sitting.

But his carnal desires win out, and always when the curious student in the red coat steps up on his platform and trades her young body for his admiration and authorial mentorship.

Dan Spielman is brilliant as Jon, separated from his third wife, egocentric, witty, thoughtful.

Izabella Yena as young Annie is more of a blank sheet, precocious but unreadable, much as Jon sees her.  Hints of her feelings and character emerge in her silences and stop/go movement, just as so much of Jon is revealed in his unfinished sentences and pauses.

Only at the end, four years later, at a reunion in a hotel, are the tables turned.  But Moscovitch’s  gently observant play reveals the discrepancies of power and privilege, the barriers smashed by sexual trade and desire, without loud accusations or blood on the floor.

Petra Kalive directs this Melbourne Theatre Company production with finely staged movement. The two dance around each other, skipping between fun, lust and apprehension.   The untidy furniture around the central platform are like a set or home waiting to be formed (designer Marg Howell).

Martin Portus

Photographer: Jaimi Joy