Set on the Limestone Coast, Caleb Lewis\u2019 fine new play (featuring the outstanding Nathan O\u2019Keefe) is not only a deep dive into the depths of grief and loss, it is also about returning to the replenishing light of day.<\/p>\n
Murray Bramwell<\/p>\n
\u201cPicanninie Ponds is a system of sinkholes on South Australia\u2019s limestone coast, just south of Mt Gambier,\u201c explains Caleb Lewis, in the program notes of State Theatre\u2019s latest production. It is where his father, a dive instructor, took him when he was a child.<\/p>\n
As Lewis remembers it, after telling his kids about the dangers and deaths associated with the \u201cPics\u201d, their dad put on his wet suit and mask and slipped into the deep waters to explore, leaving them wondering whether he would ever return.<\/p>\n
Cathedral is the name of the most majestic of the Pics caves – as Lewis says, it is a place of crystal clear water, yawning chasms and \u201cfilled with godlight\u201d. It is central to the theme of Lewis\u2019 play that the Cathedral is both a sanctuary and inspiration and a treacherous death trap, both an exultant high and a lethal low.<\/p>\n
It is a metaphor for how we manage the extremities in our lives, for what draws us to danger and what guides our choices. Why, the playwright asks \u2013 \u201cdo some of sink when others swim ?\u201d<\/p>\n
Clay, his central character, is a young man from coastal South Australia, who lives close to the edge in many ways. Vividly narrated by Nathan O\u2019Keefe, his is a life of disruptions and insecurities, but also of abiding constancy. Born as the only surviving twin (his brother Moss was still-born) he bursts into the world gasping for oxygen.<\/p>\n
While Clay is still a child, his violent father makes an abrupt and permanent departure after being horsewhipped by his mother\u2019s father \u2013 the larger-than-life, Pop, a World War II hero who miraculously survived an bomber aircraft crash in the Danube. It is Pop who parents Clay after his mother goes mysteriously missing in the Pics \u2013 one of the many wraiths floating in the Cathedral never to be found again.<\/p>\n
It is also Pop who teaches Clay to swim and to learn to love the coastal life \u2013 bodysurfing, sitting on the bottom of the swimming pool holding their breath \u201duntil spots swam in our eyes.\u201d Lewis captures an idyllic, intensely Australian portrait of thirty years ago. But Clay is soon restless and his fascination for diving takes him first to Thailand and then to Aberdeen where he becomes a highly-paid industrial specialist.<\/p>\n
Director Shannon Rush ably contains and focuses this engaging narrative by always keeping us connected to the emotional and numinous implications of Lewis\u2019 layered and meditative text.<\/p>\n
Kathryn Sproul\u2019s design features a boardwalk pier with heavy pilings in front of an abstracted limestone monolith, with a narrow vertical entrance that is a harbinger of both birth and doom. Mark Oakley\u2019s sparing lighting re-creates the shadows, deceptions and sudden illuminations of the undersea world and his understated photographic projections during Clay\u2019s final descent into the Cathedral enhance the reality of the quest.<\/p>\n
Also enveloping the stage is Andrew Howard\u2019s subtly ubiquitous sub-woofer score \u2013 a constant rhythm of the surf, both brooding and commanding, interspersed with almost subliminal melodic reveries beckoning Clay further into the unknown. For the mayday scenes the chaotic volume of the radio static and garbled communication ramps up the tension and anxiety.<\/p>\n
A variety of characters are voiced by off-stage actors- notably Anna Steen as Clay\u2019s girlfriend , Chris Pitman as the booming Scotsman Jock, Annabel Mattheson as Jess, and Rory Walker as Will and Ted.<\/p>\n
But it is the central solo performance by Nathan O\u2019Keefe which ensures the success of this terrific production. His easy delivery of Lewis\u2019 often beautifully cadenced (and expertly detailed) text brings a vernacular warmth that makes it even more poetic and compelling. From the geological history of the coast in the introduction to the emotional and mythic reckonings of the final scenes, O\u2019Keefe\u2019s performance is spot on; never obvious, or mannered, or overwrought. His Clay is the key to the work.<\/p>\n
Cathedral<\/em> is surely a highlight of State\u2019s 2022 season. It is among the best and most assured of Lewis\u2019 works to date and deserves to tour widely. It has all the markings of a South Australian classic.<\/p>\n Cathedral<\/em> is playing in the Space Theatre until May 21.<\/p>\n https:\/\/indaily.com.au\/inreview\/theatre\/2022\/05\/11\/theatre-review-cathedral\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Set on the Limestone Coast, Caleb Lewis\u2019 fine new play (featuring the outstanding Nathan O\u2019Keefe) is not only a deep dive into the depths of grief and loss, it is also about returning to the replenishing light of day. Murray Bramwell \u201cPicanninie Ponds is a system of sinkholes on South Australia\u2019s limestone coast, just south of Mt Gambier,\u201c explains Caleb Lewis, in the program notes of State Theatre\u2019s latest production. It is where his father, a dive instructor, took him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,5,16,14,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-43","category-archive","category-australian-texts","category-state-theatre-company","category-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3423"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3431,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions\/3431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}