Sunday 22 September, 2024

Old Fitz Theatre

New Ghosts Theatre Company

Review by Paul Neeson (Arts Wednesday)

Sitting, Screaming is a virtuoso theatre work for a solo actor that examines some dark themes in the life of a troubled teenage girl dealing with multiple distressing factors in her life as she edges towards adulthood. Writer, Madelaine Nunn brilliantly crafts the world of Sam who faces the recent cancer diagnosis of her father, a message that sends ripples of trauma through the once happy family. At school she is becoming an outcast as she distances herself from the so-called ‘friends’ who are essentially a toxic mix of petulance and privilege. On top of this, one of her male teachers is paying her too much attention that threatens to cross a line of some sort. Sam is floundering in all her relationships as she struggles to come to terms with the cards she is dealt.

Nunn has created a world that is complex, rich, troubling and at times rewarding, through her poignant writing for a single character. Sam, in the hands of Clare Hughes (ABCs Ladies in Black) is brought to life with great sensitivity. She jumps seamlessly – with only a quick lighting change (Luna Ng) – from a scene with her ailing father and a mother who is barely coping, to a confrontation in the school playground and maybe also at the same time confronting her own burgeoning sexuality. Her technique of including the dialogue of the characters who we have to imagine, with her own responses is flawless. As well she guides us effortlessly from the family home to the school yard and even the fish and chips shop, complete with resident rat – the rodent a metaphor for much that’s going on in the play: denial of truth, self censorship, sexual assault, decay, dishonesty, and treachery. On her subsequent visit to the fish and chip shop she does acknowledge the rat as she is coming to terms with the conflicts in her life, recognising them for what they are. The first step towards finding resolution.

Throughout the play we are exposed to some difficult themes that are current in our Australian society: family breakdown, predatory sexual behaviour (her male school teacher goes one step way too far, a sexual advance, then later invites her to apologise to him thus painting himself as the victim and her the perpetrator), alienation from the dominant group, gender identity. As she faces all these dramas in her life while at the same time contemplating her own frailties, it is conversely the underlying strength of Sam’s character that propels the narrative and gives us hope where there is none. And this is where the craft of Nunn and director, Lucy Clements comes to the fore. We feel for Sam as she is presented with the prospect of help from those around her but fails to recognise it for what it is. Ultimately, when it is almost too late, she allows herself to accept that help and she acts with fortitude and courage. But a resolution is only hinted at before the final fade to black, and I for one am still unsure how the play concluded as we were presented with two alternate outcomes – did she ultimately identify as gay? If so it might explain much about the way she dealt with life’s challenges. Maybe that is part of the craft, leaving us pondering the play in the subsequent hours and days.

If I were to compare it to a piece of classical music, Sitting, Screaming is the equivalent of a Caprice for Solo Violin by Nicole Paganini. It takes us through a fast and technically difficult journey full of emotion and drama. Clare Hughes as the solo actor gave a virtuosic performance equal to the violin master himself. This play has the potential to become an audition standard for an aspiring young actor as it allows the thespian to show their entire range of acting skills in a short space of time. 

Season runs to October 5.

You can listen to a recent interview with writer Madeleine Nunn below: