Summer Rain

Every so often a community theatre company makes a choice in their repertoire that absolutely delights me. This is one.

It’s an all too rare joy to hear a musical theatre score with an authentic Aussie voice and vernacular, something that the late Nick Enright had an absolute flair for.

Theatre on Chester celebrates Summer Rain with Joy Sweeney’s splendidly crafted intimate production, balancing just the right mix of exuberance, sensitivity and sentimentality, helped by a set and lighting which utterly evoke dry outback heat.

The musicalcelebrates a great Australian entertainment tradition, the travelling tent shows, and the outback communities they entertained. The plot centres on the small core family group of a touring company which has fallen on hard times after World War 2, returning to a remote outback town, the site of a past success, to discover there’s ghosts, and a less than universal welcome.

The score is spot on, and if the book sometimes feels a little sketchy, the splendid ensemble cast breathes real life into the characters.

The totally engaged ensemble is led by appropriately OTT community theatre old stagers Tom Sweeney and Deidre Lee at the head of the touring theatricals, with Warren Blood as the cantankerous outback publican, and Janina Hamerlok as the salt-of-the-earth local storekeeper.

Standouts amongst the younger cast included Laura Sheldon, who is a high theatrical firecracker, Victoria Brown as an affectively gentle, conflicted young country woman, Scott Dais finding the subtext of a young returned digger, Scott Clare, who creates a real-deal knockabout country bloke, and Lauren Gunson as a young girl with dreams beyond this country town.

The simple, skeletal set design (Joy Sweeney) unfolds as necessary to shift between indoor and outdoor, integrating with a lighting design (Wal Moore) which splendidly evokes dry outback heat. Joy Sweeney's costumes, a mix of deliciously campy theatrical and aptly outback, complete the picture.

Musical Director Mark Pigot accompanies the whole splendidly from the piano. Janina Hamerlok’s choreography nails both the B-grade entertainment of the theatre troupe, and the contrasting of lethargy and exuberance of the country town.

The Theatre on Chester thoroughly deserves its sell-out season.

Neil Litchfield