Saturn's Return
 
Wharf 2, Sydney Theatre Company          

extended until September 6
 
Bookings: (02) 9250 1777
 
I have been in love with Tommy Murphy for quite some time now. I don't feel stupid writing this because I know other theatre junkies who feel the same way. See one of his plays and you'll find yourself dancing for days. And I love Mr Berthold too...David Berthold is a truly fine director. I unashamedly want to admit my bias upfront.
 
Saturn's Return is the latest collaboration from this remarkable writer-director team. I'm sure if you've seen Strangers in Between or the gently wondrous Holding The Man… well you probably have stopped reading this and are online booking tickets. For those still with me, these two theatre-makers have again extended themselves, and with unique theatricality they tell an urban love story that goes orbital. Murphy's writing is so fantastically tough and tender, which suits a play also concerned with growing up – probably the hardest thing his characters will do before thirty. The play takes its title from that wild ride known to occur at the end of your third decade that astrologers like to call your Saturn Return. It seems the big planet, with a strong dose of tough love, needs to let you know the party is over.
 
29-year-old Murphy writes about his generation with antennae finely tuned to the angst that accompanies their perspective of the world. In Saturn's Return his main protagonist is Zara (Leeanne Walsman), a hot young woman of today outclassing and probably outshining a lot of her male peers. She’s a horny hedonist who's renting in Sydney with her long-term boyfriend Matt (Matt Zeremes), and she easily sees herself "one-titted... with dementia" by the time they've saved for a deposit for their own home. Ironically it is the offer from Matt's dad of the needed lump sum, for some people the equivalent of being rescued from shark infested waters, which sends Zara into a spin. She begins to question every aspect of her life and begins to compare what she has to what she could have, including the possibility of reigniting something with her first boyfriend Brendan (Socratis Otto).

It is a credit to Murphy that he makes his very interesting female character so easy to relate to; after all, realising the one that you hoped you'd grow old with is the one you are ready to say goodbye to can happen to anyone, at any age.

The performances are all solid and the design elements, especially Adam Gardnir’s “pop-up book” set, contribute greatly to this affecting production.

A definite must see.
 

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