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Beautiful Words Writer/Director: Sean Riley Higher Ground Sat 6 May Until Fri 20 May If you're looking to see one play this year, and you give a damn about Australia's foreign policy - if you have any conscience at all - see 'Beautiful Words'. It's that simple. Sean Riley's lustrous reputation is derived from a simple fact: his ability to create characters and situations which get straight to the heart of matters. That his writing is also topical and top class means the scenes shine with humour; good sense and easily followed narrative threads is something of a bonus. Only time will tell whether a play about Australia's crisis of conscience on the vexed question of immigration and refugees stands the test of time. Will we look back in twenty years time at our policies as absurd and faintly embarrassing historical footnotes? Will 'Beautiful Words' seem outdated, or thoughtful and topical? Riley scored a major coup securing the services of Dennis Olsen to play the roles of old concentration camp victim Roman and retired Englishman Alfred. He brings a weary gravitas to both roles which is essential in focussing the attention, particularly in Act II when young Afghani refugee Ari (Tim Morgan) is washed up on the beach of an Australian town. Olsen is fabulous, but so too are the rest of the cast: Jacquy Phillips is allowed to exercise her comedic side in the gypsy woman Viorica, the wacky Lurline and the caricatured American Mrs Greenberg. Stephen Sheehan shows his tragi-comic inner clown as gyspy squeezebox player Ion; and Kim Liotta three strong supporting roles, particularly as Stella in the final act. Tim Morgan picks the similarities in his characters with his slightly pathetic portrayals of the young Roman and the refugee boy Ari. Speaking of similarities, Riley has chosen to use the story of a concentration camp survivor (Roman) to kick off his contemporary drama, but he draws no direct comparisons between detention centres and the Nazi death camps such as Auschwitz. It is the human component he explores, and he does it with a deft touch. It is the people and their reactions to ideas which fascinates Riley. The son of a Nazi concertmaster and his friendship with a young gypsy; the two weird yet well meaning sisters and their coterie of friends and their interaction with the nosey postmistress of a small town; and most tellingly, the hidebound and scared Australian woman Stella and her reaction to her new neighbour, Zaynab. 'Beautiful Words' is wonderful theatre, even though a few things annoyed me. Higher Ground is a previously untried venue for theatre, and whilst it works it is not the best around. It's cavernous, the lighting and sound is basic rather than wonderful, and access and choke points for the audience remain an issue. In terms of the play, however, I'm most mystified why it did not end at the most logical place. To say more would be to give away too much, but the concluding scene was most illogical. 'Beautiful Words' is also several shades too long, mostly needlessly. Given that this was its premiere outing, these issues can be easily addressed.  |
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