Talented Australian playwright Jonathan Gavin, most well known for his play ‘A Moment On The Lips’, has chosen a confronting, difficult subject for his new play, ‘Bang’. ‘Bang’ sees one of our worst nightmares taking place, with the devestating effects of a suicide bombing, care of a young Turkish-Australian woman, Hatije, that takes place during peak hour on the platform of a busy suburban train station. Eighteen people die as a result of the detonation of her homemade bomb.

Gavin’s play focuses on the damaged lives of those who survived the attack. The survivors include a railway security guard who feels guilty that she didn’t prevent the attack, a pregnant woman who tragically loses her child, and a Sister who can think of nothing but revenge.

I left the theatre with mixed feelings after seeing this new Gavin work in a production directed by Kim Hardwick. My first response was,- what an audacious, ambitious production! The playwright has written a searching piece looking at the psychology and the history of this form of terrorism. Hardwick’s production wins strong performances from her cast, led by Blazey Best as Hatije, as all of who are on stage for the entirety of the performance and are each required and capably perform multiple roles. Mark Thompson’s staging with its newspapers, the floral tributes and the broad mirrored back wall worked effectively.

My reservation with the production lay with the unease I felt in the ‘tricky’ transition from the protagonist being a highly intelligent, (her career is as a geneticist), and strongly feminist and independent woman, to her suffering during her time living in Baghdad during the Iraqi war, and to her then becoming a religious fanatic and terrorist in Sydney. It just felt like it didn’t quite work.

A White Box Theatre production in association with B Sharp, ‘Bang’ plays the downstairs theatre at Belvoir street until Sunday 4th July, 2010.

12th June, 2010.