CANBERRA YOUTH THEATRE’S PRODUCTION ‘THE VERBATIM PROJECT’ @ ATYP STUDIO 1

The song Honesty is a favourite Billy Joel ballad, and one of his most plaintive. The chorus goes, ‘Honesty is such a lonely word, Everyone is so untrue, Honesty is hardly ever heard, and mostly what I need from you.’ I have heard plenty of honesty in two recent plays and this authenticity has made for compelling theatrical experiences.

First there was the already reviewed Louis Nowra’s THIS MUCH IS TRUE at the Old Fitz. And now Canberra Youth Theatre Projects presentation THE VERBATIM PROJECT which is currently concluding a brief season at the Australian Theatre For Young People’s (ATYP) Studio 1.

THE VERBATIM PROJECT is a brilliant group devised piece  helmed by Katie Cawthorne, Artistic Director of Canberra Youth Theatre. The piece was first performed last year in Canberra and was a sell out. The Company remounted the show  this year and ATYP Artistic Director Fraser Corfield invited the troupe up to Sydney to do a series of performances. 

Cawthorne’s project saw sixteen courageous individuals/performers come together to share their views and experiences of the world via group discussion and audio and video tape. Every word spoken on stage is verbatim/authentic. From the sixteen ‘stories’ Cawthorn has come up with an engrossing multi-media work with the use of video, voice over, direct address to the audience and very impressive dance and movement work,  sometimes stronger than the text based work.

The staging is simple and effective – the sixteen performers are on stage for the duration of the hour long performance and use the breadth of the generous Studio 1 stage. There is no set, the only prop is a chair for each of the performers. The  chairs are used with great flair and symbolism, in movement sequences, across the performance.

There is a big ‘hook’ to this show and that is that Cawthorne cleverly plays around with, and explores, the juxtaposition of two vastly different age groups- teenagers who are just starting out on their own journeys in life, contrasted with people who are coming up, or are already at retirement age.

Ten of the performers are teenagers, between 14 and 16 years old, and the other six are aged between 65 and 80. It was engrossing observing the different views the performers took on the big issues such as courtship, love, death, anxiety, gender, justice and identity and their thoughts were, at times, at odds with their ages.  

My favourite sequence in the play was the scene which played around with the whole notion of courtship. My idea of courtship, and I am sure more than a few people will concur, is that it is a very exciting but also confusing and anxiety provoking time. This was well conveyed in what was a completely movement driven piece.

I spoke to some of the performers over drinks after the show. They spoke about the excitement generated within the ensemble at being given the opportunity to perform a season in Sydney, and the great bonding that took place as they have enjoyed almost a whole week up in the harbour city.

Interestingly, one of the ladies said that the younger performers had come from acting backgrounds, whereas the older group were from a dance background. Quite a well known dance background actually, they all came from a group called ‘THE GOLDS’ which stands for, don’t you just love it, Growing Old Disgracefully. She told me that filmmaker Sue Healy had made a wonderful documentary- THE GOLDS (2014) – about them which has been screened internationally to much acclaim.

Just a thought, documentary filmmakers out there. The successful journey of Canberra Youth Theatre’s THE VERBATIM PROJECT, may well be worthy of a documentary in its own right!

Sadly, this incarnation of THE VERBATIM PROJECT only played a brief season at ATYP’s Studio 1, playing between the 19th and 22nd July.

Performers-

Jean Bennett, Jasper Kilby, Denise Druitt, Jack Hubner, Katie Hubner, Merilyn Jenkins, Carol Mackay, Charlotte Palmer, Sao Hom Palu. Yarno Rahling, Diana Sanderman, Kate Sherran, Elektra Spencer, Ted Stewart, David Turbayne and Quentin Van Rooy.