Red Stitch's production of Tom Holloway's award winning play, Red Sky Morning, is an exciting new theatre experience.
The play tells the intense and yet humorous story of one day in the life of a family in rural Australia. The mother (Sarah Sutherland) has a drinking problem and her husband (David Whiteley) and teenage daughter (Erin Dewar) are trying to find a way to deal with it. Each of the characters has an emotional journey - they yearn for connection but find themselves paralysed when they attempt to communicate with each other.
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The script won the 2008 Green Room award for Best New Australian writing and it is its form which makes it so unique. The disconnection of the characters is emphasised by each of the actors delivering monologues in which they share their inner thoughts with the audience. There are three journeys or monologues that the audience can be absorbed in at any one time and the audience can choose what to watch. Even though there is an organised chaos on stage with overlapping and sometimes simultaneous dialogue, the audience can still understand each character's individual journey.
David Whiteley, Sarah Sutherland and Erin Dewar create authentic and real Australian characters. There is a subtlety and honesty to their performances. Each shows total commitment to their own journey and monologue whilst having an awareness of the dialogue being delivered by the others. This results in the dialogue having a rhythmic and almost musical quality. Director, Sam Strong, should be applauded for bringing together these three talented actors so beautifully.
Designer, Peter Mumford, has created a box set of venetian blinds. The set cleverly hints at the isolation of living in rural Australia. The actors open and shut the venetian blinds as they move between indoor and outdoor settings. The various degrees of separation effected between the slats at any time indicate what is hidden and revealed. Two chairs and a table are used to create three separate spaces for the characters. Corrugated iron sheets behind the box set and the floor of red earth add to the sense of rural Australia.
Lighting Designer, Danny Pettingill, creates a beautiful red skyline and separate spaces for the characters. Kelly Ryall's subtle sound design compliments the onstage action.
The play lasts for 60 minutes and is showing at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts for a limited season before continuing its Australian tour. If the production is coming to a venue near you, be sure not to miss it.
The remaining tour dates are:
The Events Centre, Caloundra (12 Oct - 13 Oct 2010)
The Q, Queanbeyan (15 Oct - 16 Oct 2010)
Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre (20 Oct 2010)
Griffith Regional Theatre (23 Oct 2010)
Orange Civic Centre (26 Oct - 27 Oct)
Bathurst Memorial Ent Centre (28 Oct - 29 Oct 2010)
Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Wollongong (2 Nov - 13 Nov 2010)
Theatre Royal, Hobart (9 Nov - 13 Nov 2010)
