Euphoria
\nby Emily Steel
\nA State Theatre South Australia
\nand Country Arts SA Production.
\nSpace Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre.
\nMay 7. Until May 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe town in Euphoria<\/em> is not based on any one town,\u201d playwright Emily Steel writes in the program notes for State Theatre\u2019s terrific new production, \u201cbut has aspects of many.\u201d When travelling all over regional South Australia researching the play and interviewing locals, Steel asked people what was the best thing about life in their town. The answer: \u201cWell, everyone knows each other so there\u2019s always someone there if you need help.\u201d And the worst thing ? – \u201cEveryone knows each other, so it\u2019s hard to have privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n Steel observes that this \u201cdouble edged sword of community life became the core of the play.\u201d Commissioned by Country Arts SA, Euphoria<\/em> explores the experiences faced by people with mental health issues in regional towns where everyone knows and, often, no-one wants to know. Where, even when they want to help, they don\u2019t know what to say, or do.<\/p>\n The play revolves around two main characters – Meg Riley (Ashton Malcolm) and Ethan Thomas (James Smith) but gives voice to a dozen or so more. Meg is the primary school teacher, married to Nick, the local mechanic. She is writing a grant application to stage a festival in the town. Someone has helpfully suggested the name \u201cEuphoria\u201d. Meg is getting wound up planning and organising, she suffers from mood swings. Her doctor has prescribed meds but she hates the glassy side effects so is trying to manage without them.<\/p>\n Ethan has just finished Year 12 and is supposed to be heading for uni in Adelaide. But he has delayed that and things are spinning out. He has a job as a waiter in a trendy new restaurant but sabotages it and quits when his mate Jimmy gets him pissed on the job. Meg persuades Nick to take him on, helping out in the mechanic\u2019s garage. Ethan is the son of Steve Thomas, the well-liked local who, several years earlier, died in an accident nobody wants to talk about.<\/p>\n Director Nescha Jelk has expertly managed the pace and exposition in Emily Steel\u2019s fast moving script. There are many points of view to be acknowledged and heard \u2013 and only two actors to present them.<\/p>\n Meg Wilson\u2019s compact and very portable set (pleasingly lit with tints and buttery warmth by Nic Mollison) features the wood-panelled wall of a familiar community hall, complete with sliding doors, a serving hatch, a pinboard for notices, and space for chairs set out for meetings. As more is revealed, the doors widen and fold back for the final scenes.<\/p>\n Before the play opens, Andrew Howard\u2019s soundscape evokes the easy pace of small town life \u2013 birds chirping, dogs barking, the absence of haste and clutter. His musical interludes, featuring guitar, fuzzy synths and chiming piano, bring soothing harmonics between sometimes fraught stage encounters.<\/p>\n And then there are the crisp, vivid performances. Ashton Malcolm and James Smith are both excellent, maintaining astonishing speed and precision as they not only play their primary roles as Meg and Ethan but an array of minor parts as well.<\/p>\n Malcolm\u2019s Meg is cheerful, kind, earnest and always busy. The stress of her hypermania is never far from the surface and her exchanges with her concerned husband and sometimes sniping co-workers reveal, as the playwright intends, the double life of those prone to mental illness.<\/p>\n As Ethan, James Smith is a ball of energy, evasion, pent-up anger and sadness. In his hoodie and sneakers he is the typical teenage kid, mixing bravado with hopefulness and surly resentment. His relationship with Nick, the mechanic and father-figure, is well drawn \u2013 even as Smith plays both characters.<\/p>\n Steel\u2019s device of having the actors improvising extra roles brings energy and freshness to the play. Smith, as Ethan\u2019s deadpan mother serving at the Post Office, and Malcolm, as the bratty self-satisfied Jimmy, are droll examples.<\/p>\n Euphoria<\/em> is a play devised to tour country districts to raise awareness about mental problems as they occur (and are concealed) in everyday life. Steel\u2019s lively script carries the message with wit and warmth and while sometimes the comedy is broad, the effect is poignant and telling. Audiences around the state will not only be drawn to its themes, they will also be captured by its stagecraft. This Euphoria<\/em> is a buzz.<\/p>\n murraybramwell.com Euphoria by Emily Steel A State Theatre South Australia and Country Arts SA Production. Space Theatre, Adelaide Festival Centre. May 7. Until May 15. \u201cThe town in Euphoria is not based on any one town,\u201d playwright Emily Steel writes in the program notes for State Theatre\u2019s terrific new production, \u201cbut has aspects of many.\u201d When travelling all over regional South Australia researching the play and interviewing locals, Steel asked people what was the best thing about life in their town. 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\nMay 10, 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"