|
SBW Stables Theatre 
until May 24
Bookings: 1300 306 776
For the first ten minutes of Lachlan Philpott’s Colder, I didn’t really think I was going to get into this play.
That seemed a pity because I had read the synopsis and found it fascinating, and the play had also won a significant slap-on-the-back trophy, even if such an accolade really doesn’t impress me if I haven’t seen the play on the stage.
I had been drawn to this story of the disappearance of a child in Disneyland who is eventually recovered but then disappears again as an adult, never to be found, perhaps because I have lost someone close in tragic circumstances (as many of us have by a certain age), and though I haven’t endured the ambiguous loss experienced by friends, lovers and family of missing persons, I still thought I would sympathise and be shown something new.
Was I asking too much? Well, while I think the play could do with some re-sculpturing in parts, I was still deeply moved and believe this effort succeeds as a tender exploration of the bottomless sadness that often defines being left behind.
Philpott has dedicated his play to a friend and former lover, Simon Knight, who went missing. He has stated that his play is “not his (Simon’s) story … it is a mediation on his disappearance”.
Simon, openly homosexual and known to suffer from depression, was last seen in Surry Hills in July 2005. What is clear from the play is that Philpott is bewildered that in the inner city gay community, a popular and socially connected person can just vanish.
The play tells the story of David (Matthew Walker) who in his early 30s and out on Oxford Street most nights. There is the possibility of something more when he meets Ed (Nathaniel Scotcher), but David is becoming a spectre in all his relationships even before he disappears without a trace.
As his mother, 59 year old Robyn (touchingly played by Diana McLean), keeps her life compartmentalised in Tupperware containers, so does David, and sadly after he’s gone, those who loved and still love him mourn in isolation.
What is particularly well realised in the play is how Philpott’s characters struggle to deal with David’s absence as well as the possibility that he will return.
The director, Katrina Douglas, handles well a text that experiments with form and style and elicits effective performances from the cast.
Colder will not suit everyone’s taste but it has stayed with me for a while now.
 |
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form
