Brisbane theatre restarts with a gritty play staged in a church
The Curators Theatre’s new venue in a historic church hidden behind Suncorp Stadium is bizarre but novel, with their latest gritty production staged to the sounds of trains and traffic and the occasional siren.
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It’s set in the gritty suburbs of East London so it seemed appropriate that while watching the confronting play Vincent River we could hear trains and traffic and the occasional siren.
It really added to the atmosphere inside historic Christ Church in Chippendall Street (the land that time forgot), the new venue for local independent outfit The Curators’ Theatre.
Their new play marks the rebooting of theatre in Brisbane with precious little else on in the theatrical scene right now, although things are starting to shape up.
The experience of going to Vincent River, a play by Philip Ridley, about the aftermath of the murder of a young gay man in London, was as much about the venue for me. What a hidden treasure it is, a historic old church in a dead end behind Suncorp Stadium which towers above it.
Having theatre happening in the shadow of our main stage for rugby league is a nice synergy. Having a play about homophobia in an Anglican church is ironic considering how strident some Anglicans are about that issue.
Anglicans are mostly tolerant but in Australia there are some unattractively conservative diocese.
But hey, Christ Church isn’t a church any more - the congregation has moved elsewhere - it’s a theatre now.
This church theatre is a funky inner urban spot and inside the seating is socially distanced with ambient lighting and the action taking place in the middle with the audience around it and no, you don’t sit on pews, they have comfy chairs.
This creates an intimacy that makes the drama all the more powerful. It’s a two-hander starring Amanda McErlean as Anita, a tough East Ender grieving for her dead son. When a young man, Davey (Patrick Shearer) turns up she wonders what his connection was to her dead son who was obviously killed in a homophobic attack by street toughs.
The play is about the result of an LGBTQI hate crime and was first staged in London in 2000 and revived at the Trafalgar Studios in London’s West End in 2018 to some acclaim.
It’s a histrionic piece with drama and tension building and spilling over and it’s all the more powerful for being focused on the exchanges between Anita and Davey, exchanges that reach fever pitch at times.
Director and theatre company co-founder Michael Beh has done a fine job and added his own soundtrack for pauses in the action and I walked into the church venue to the strains of that wonderful hymn Jerusalem, so loved by the Barmy Army with lyrics by William Blake no less. Respect. Well, we were in a church so it seemed fitting.
Some of Beh’s musical choices for the piece itself are a real treat ....including music by Bronski Beat (haven’t heard them for ages), Donovan, The Clash ...are you with me? ...and Kate Bush, among others.
A lovely touch that helps frame this British play.
If you know the East End you will smile at the mention of places such as Brick Lane, Shoreditch and Bethnall Green, pure cockney territory that is now very multicultural.
Plaudits to McErlean and Shearer for getting through it. Two-handers with that much dialogue are demanding but they pulled it off. The fact that they smoked on stage made it all the more authentic and they drank gin too but I’m assuming that was just water in a gin bottle. Wasn’t it?
Yes the play is confronting at times but considering how homophobic much of the world still is this play still packs a powerful and timely punch. For a night at the theatre with a difference this is it ...in an obscure location that even our cab driver admitted he had never been to. You live and learn, right?
Vincent River is on until October 31 at Christ Church, 9 Chippendall Street, Milton. Bookings at curators.com.au