Have you ever thought about enrolling in a drama class but never quite gone there?! You know it would be good for you…bring you out of your shell…however there’s just the feeling that it would be a bit like taking a rollercoaster ride without a safety harness on. You can never be sure how outrageous the workshops are going to be, nor how vulnerable they are going to make you feel.

There’s no need to procrastinate any more! Just go and see American playwright Annie Baker’s CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION. The play captures the experience of drama class participation from the safe distance of a plush theatre seat.

Baker covers all bases, with even a few hula hoops and dream catchers thrown into the mix. There are the traditional improvisation scenes of sitting around in a circle and trying to keep an absurd sentence going to very comic scenes such as when pairs of actors lead a groping colleague walking around in a blindfold.

There are childhood scenes recreated – (in Playback theatre style) of actors twisting themselves into props such as beds and maple trees.

We see Drama teacher Marty billowing through her class –having a rainbow day- oblivious to her own or her students more prickly issues.

Shannon Murphy delivers an entertaining, high energy production. The cast are each convincing, funny and touching in their roles; Eliza Logan plays the hippy drama teacher, Marty, Alan Dukes is her mellow husband, James, Paul Gleeson plays the recently depressed divorced and downhearted carpenter Schultz, Jenni Baird is Theresa, a bubbly, blonde actress relocated from Manhattan, and Chloe Bayliss plays the moody teenager Lauren, who joins the group because she wants to improve her acting skills before she auditions for her upcoming high school drama production.

Justin Nardella’s set captures the bland community activity room – with pseudo gidgee brick walls, zealously polished floor-boards;, fluorescent lighting, two two-bar wall mounted radiators, several fire exit signs, box lockers, long wide mirrors and curtains perpetually tugged at by Marty.

Just a hunch that this show is going to be a big favourite with audiences, Shannon Murphy’s production of Annie Baker’s CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION opened at the Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli on Wednesday 8th August and runs until Sunday September 2, 2012. Check the Ensemble Theatre website at www.ensemble.com.au as the play is playing in repertory with Jamie Oxenbould’s THE SPEAR CARRIER.

© David Kary

9th August, 2012

Tags: Sydney Theatre Reviews- CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION, Annie Baker, Ensemble Theatre Kirribilli, Shannon Murphy, Eliza Logan, Alan Dukes, Paul Gleeson, Jenni Baird, Chloe Bayliss, Justin Nardella, Sevi Dilanchian, Sydney Arts Guide, David Kary