It’s a very crowded place the Sydney Independent Theatre scene and the necessity of creating your own work cannot be overstated.  Affordable venues are scarce and audiences are, in the main, discriminating.  So all credit to Bohemia Theatre for their production of WHITEWASH playing at Blood Moon Theatre, one of those venues whose availability makes new work accessible to Sydney theatregoers.

It is a venue which has limits though and WHITEWASH has bumped up against these and come off second best.  But it only required a small suspension of belief from the enthusiastic Opening Night audience to support a theatre company which manages to put 9 committed performers on a stage in show which has something to say.

We meet the sisters of the Wilde family.  Each with issues which they successfully whitewash and several with secrets.  Harassed and sidelined, their mother has brought them up alone and each has a level of dysfunction which appears to be innate rather a product of class or family circumstances. The most obviously not coping is Rebecca who we meet when she is incapacitated by an episode of mental illness.  As the story proceeds, the undercurrent of distemper laced truth will reveal the secrets.  The subsequent disruptions and tensions between the siblings creating an inevitable chaos in the  family dynamic.

The program for WHITEWASH gives no actor/character names and the ensemble feel is very evident throughout the work.  While some of the acting is less than stellar, no performance short changes the audience.  The South East London accents are good and the entrances well-rehearsed and the relationships clear. The sisters are interesting characters with Sam (Marybeth Bonnor) giving a strong sense of conflict, Rebecca (Abbie Gallagher) giving a good accounting of the results of psychopharmacology, Deena (Sarah Greenwood) engendering an empathy to her situation and Kellie (Gina Rose Drew) having some good comic moments.

The director (Jodie Wolf who also wrote the script) also has some significant moments of success.  The ambulance scene is well orchestrated to express the mania and panic without losing the required pathos.  The fact that most of the audience can’t see what happens because of the sight lines is not an issue in this scene as the standing characters inform the action.  But directorial decisions that involve so much sitting does affect engagement.  Volume also becomes a problem when a scene involves intimacies shared.

The other aspect of the text that requires an imaginative leap in the audience is the interlocutory movement sequences.  These will work very well eventually especially when they get a supportive lighting plot.  Similarly, scenes like the mother, (Penny Day), Grace’s heartfelt monologue will work better when her being seated is less difficult.  That scene and many of the direct-to-the-audience sharings will elevate the work, will cohere the themes and give expansion and insight alongside the narrative. It’s an attractive aspect of the production.

The story of these women provides an entertaining throughline to the production and, though somewhat episodic toward the end, one is certainly interested to see how their lives will be shaped by truths revealed.   The ancillary characters are created with thought, the broadness of the comic character doesn’t sit easily but in general they propel the story.

There is detail in WHITEWASH that speaks to an audience of good things ahead.  There is intelligent consideration in the costuming (Janine Cappellazzo), with the shiny suit and varieties of denim well suited to the characters. There is also some poignant use of music and one excellent use of silence that was particularly impressive (Fernando Poeta).

WHITEWASH from Bohemia Theatre is a nascent work which is well worth a look during its very short run.   It’s a woman centred work, which begins a conversation around families and secrets and mental distress and new work, new companies, especially those with evident potential, require our support.

WHITEWASH [Facebook event] from Bohemia Theatre [Facebook] is playing at Blood Moon Theatre [Facebook] until August 4.