SMUDGE gave me a headache.  I love that!  Not a … “the music’s too loud” headache or a “there’s too much haze” pounding or the very scary “God this is boring, let me out” pulsing.  As I pottered down the stairs after the show I realised that I had a head- tilt headache.  When creatively engaged my neck cranes to the left, opposite side of the brain and all that.  But SMUDGE was definitely a right-tilt situation.  The work is so thought provoking and intellectually challenging that I had obviously been using my logical left brain through big chunks of the show.

It is a very difficult work.  Written by Rachel Axler who won two Emmy awards as part of the writing team for ‘The Daily Show’ and who  is best known as a TV writer, the play was savaged and lauded by turns when it first appeared off Broadway in 2010.  I think part of my headache was to do with how impressed I was with the King’s Fools pulling this off.  They have created a perfect mix of drama, dark comedy and existential musings.

We meet loving couple Colby and Nick at the time when they get their sonogram. They are travelling the soon-to-be first time parent arc of baby names and changing the house to prepare for new arrival.  Excited and physical, they are having some difficulty deciphering the image; it just looks like a smudge to them.  When baby arrives, the image is made flesh.  A terrible shock and their ways of dealing will drive them apart, isolate them from others and then bond them to each other.

I can see why a women’s collective would support this contemporary exploration of a topic brought up, almost unpalatable, in the mid-sixties in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg.  It was originally produced by The Women’s Project and it confronts our biases about motherhood while presenting a complex, conflicted woman:  human and relatable. 

Danielle Connor as Colby embodies so well the change of circumstances and the disturbed responses of the young woman, without losing the charming and effusive character we first meet.  From loving wife to sexual aggressor then beyond, Connor has a clear through line and a well considered physicality.

Similarly excellent, despite his character having a narrower arc, is Kieran Foster as Nick.  As written, Nick is one thing , then another.  However Foster uses subtle characterisation and quiet listening to give one Nick the resonances of the other.

Together they have a strong rapport and this is established early with clever direction by Stephen Lloyd-Coombs who places them as close as possible on the small stage.  Later, when the crisis in their relationship deepens and their harsh words crash into each other and voices raise stridently or lower dangerously,  Lloyd-Coombs also has them close to each other.   

Lloyd-Coombs together with  Liam O’Keefe have designed a lighting state that blurs their shadows towards the end of the play.  The closer they come, the more they become a smudge on the white upstage wall. Similarly, the simple staging reflects the chaos and instability the baby brings and the audio design by Michael Toisuta successfully heightens the tension and delivers delusion as required.

Colby and Nick’s situation would not have the power it does were there not a third party.  Pete is Nick’s brother and he behaves in a very “I’m the big brother” way.  Nick Hunter does well with this difficult to play character.  He is funny and annoying, and yet manages to pull back from being too broad.  Hunter’s character is not generally satisfying, though he fills the need to lighten the story.

SMUDGE has some darkly funny moments. Even deciding if the black humour should be laughed at, or why it’s funny takes some intellectualising.  Hence the headache.  Maybe a smudge stick will help?!

The Kings Fools in association with KXT’s production of Rachel Axler’s SMUDGE is playing the Kings Cross Theatre, Level 2 Kings Cross Hotel, 244-248 William Street, Kings Cross until June 11.  Performance times Tuesday to Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 4.30pm.