DANIEL EVANS ‘OEDIPUS DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE’ @ ATYP STUDIO 1

‘It’s a horror movie right there on my tv/ And it’s shockin’  me right out of my brain/ It’s bound to get you in/Get right under your skin/Hit you right on the chin/ It’s a horror movie and it’s blown a fuse/ It’s a horror movie/It’s the six thirty news.’ (Skyhooks from the album ‘Living In the Seventies’ 1974).

Australian playwright Daniel Evans play reworks Sophocles classic play into a contemporary setting.

We have an Oedipus who lives in the outer suburbs. Well he did, but as the play’s title states, he has left town, moved on after his dysfunctional world comes apart and he himself implodes.

The stage action takes place after his exit. The style of the play is non-naturalistic; four actors take to the stage and tell us that they will re-enact Oedipus’ story from go to woe by donning various characters caught up in the various situations. By doing so they endeavour to get behind the sensational news, and not only piece together what happened, but to make sense of the horror of it all.

It’s hard to think of a more relevant, prescient subject matter for a playwright to take on. Here’s an extract from the Writer’s Note in the program:-

“The tragedy of the House of Labdacus is transplanted to the outer suburbs: a space that has always felt mythic to me. It asks, what if Oedipus lived next door? If his wife Jocasta shopped at the same Coles you did? And his sons, polynices and Etocies, were in your biology class at school? It’s a proposition that isn’t hard to imagine – especially given the spate of murders, bashings, disappearances and backyard horror stories that continue to grip our 24 hour news stream; unspeakable tragedies becoming disturbingly commonplace, where the lines between brutality, empathy and apathy continue to blur.”

Another quote, this time from director Fraser Corfield’s program note which will even get you more in the picture:

“So often the most terrible things are born from the most familiar. The only thing stopping people from tearing the world apart when overcome by loss, desire, fear, jealousy or hatred is their sense of humanity. When that snaps all sorts of tragedies occur. This is the territory explored in this play.”

Fraser Corfield’s production did justice to Evans confronting play. His direction showcased plenty of theatrical flair as did the very committed performances of four talented cast actors – Caitlin Burley, Mia Evans Rorris, Jeremi Campese and Joshua McElroy – who play between them over fifty characters, slipping out of and into characters and costumes with great skill.

The show’s production values were strong. Melanie Liertz’s set and costume design take us deeply into troubled suburbia.  

There were some excellent moments in Emma Lockhart-Wilson’s lighting design. Chrysoulla Markoulli’s edgy soundscape enhanced the action well.

Fraser Corfield’s production of Daniel Evan’s OEDIPUS DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE is well worth a visit. The production opened at ATYP’s Studio Theatre, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay on Friday 9th June and runs till Friday 23rd June.

Performance times are Wednesdays to Saturdays at 7 pm and Sundays at 5 pm.

Running Time – 100  minutes without interval.

CAST : Mia Evans Rorris, Caitlin Burley, Josh McElroy and Jeremi Campese.

CREATIVE TEAM :  Director: Fraser Corfield, Set/Costume Design: Melanie Liertz, Lighting Design: Alex Berlage, Sound Design: Katelyn Shaw, Composer: Chysoulla Markoulli,  Assistant Director: Rowan Bate.

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