Sudan/No Velvet Divorce
Three River Theatre
Earl Arts Centre

Three River Theatre’s latest theatrical offering; a double bill of the one act plays Sudan by Christine Davey and No Velvet Divorce by Jessica Montrose; is an appealingly underutilized theatrical venture that I personally would love to see more often. Not since the days of the student directed festivals at the SVPA, has an audience had the capability to relish in the delights of two or more vastly contrasting productions in one night. This in turn leads to strong discourse between patrons as they dissect the variations or parallels between productions.

​

This felt accurate of the atmosphere following the opening night performances of Sudan, (Directed by Jonathan Pedler), and No Velvet Divorce, (Directed by Cameron Hindrum.) Each work vastly contrasted the other and manufactured absorbing conversation that continued well into the night. With both scripts being new work, with only Sudan having received a previous production; Three River Theatre’s commitment to presenting new work to our theatrical community is to be supported.

​

First up, Sudan by Christine Davey; follows the story of Sudan the final Northern White Rhino, after he was taken into captivity to preserve his life but was euthanised in 2018 from “age related complications” that brought about the extinction of that subspecies of Rhinoceros. Sudan here is shown as an aging male patient at a medical facility who is heading towards a physical breakdown. It examines the effect the impending knowledge of mortality and grief has on friendship and loyalty and debates in heartbreaking detail, voluntary euthanasia from the perspective of a man broken down by life and tormented by his inability to be who he once was.

​

Peter McCallum illustrates the human embodiment of this majestic beast, with a dignified and fascinatingly charming gruffness. He is a relatable larrikin but combined with the entrenched exuberance for adventure and overtly pained hostility toward his physical limitations, his performance manifests empathy for Sudan. Anyone who has witnessed an elderly parent or grandparent, agonizing with their impending future and increasing lack of mobility, will be immediately engulfed by McCallum’s performance, and be touched by its simple and emphatic presence. He shoulders the weight of the scripts emotional cost on his once strong Rhino back, by turning in one of the most starkly believable performances this year.

​

Caitlin McCarthy makes her long overdue return to the stage as the head doctor/researcher Dr Cathy, who is desperate in her attempt to save Sudan’s life and his species. McCarthy is an actor who is criminally absent from our local scene; she has a genuine intuitiveness which fuses a quiet vulnerability with a compelling presence that persuades the audience to accept and trust every line that she speaks.

​

Unfortunately, we also observed for the first time firsthand, the illness contingencies that have been put in place by most major companies as of late. Luckily, it wasn’t COVID related, but having Olivia Brodzinski unable to perform the role she had spent months rehearsing meant director Jonathan Pedler had to step in and perform with book in hand. This was a heartbreaking loss to not see Olivia perform the role, but Jonathan stepped in with impressive skill, completing the show after very rarely looking at his script. This was helpful in ensuring the show’s energy didn’t lag and it continued to crack along at the pace it needed to.

​

After Interval, Jessica Montrose’s world premiere production of No Velvet Divorce, introduced us to the characters of Phoebe and Nick, ex-lovers and parents who are going through the arduous and messy process of a separation. After years of making a life together, Nick is caught having an affair and leaves Phoebe in the lurch with their children. We observe over time as they wade through the problematic journey of forgiveness and healing.

​

The script, which I believe is semi-autobiographical, appeared imbalanced in the experiences we were observing. I expect the aim was to balance the two sides; as the monologue structure of the script intended to show both Nick and Phoebe’s thoughts, but unfortunately the way it was demonstrated delivered a discouraging bias towards Phoebe. I look to the recent film “Marriage Story” as an excellent example. That story, remarkably similar to No Velvet Divorce, was displayed in a way that promised an illuminating dissection of current relationships and separations from a dual perspective, without straying too heavily to either camp. Because our sympathy for Phoebe was involuntarily determined for us, it meant that Nick’s character, played by Matt Harris, was facing an uphill battle to get the audience on his side.

​

Because of this, Harris’s performance needed to be layered with humanity and culpability to combat it, and regrettably, our first glimpse of Nick was perceived as a cackling callous villain, which promptly had the audience offside. Due to the semi-autobiographical nature of the show, it began to feel that Phoebe’s character (Played by Rebecca Jee) became an unreliable narrator. There was an overtly subjective and emotional distaste toward all the male characters mentioned in the script, and this clouded and complicated the ingenuity of a script that had the potential to subvert the expectations of a traditional romantic drama. Instead, this version continued to tell us which side we were expected to be on, which aimed to result in sympathy for Phoebe by the end. But our sympathy came in the form of sadness towards a character that continued to find herself stuck in toxic relationships with narcissistic personalities and not because of her experiences in the relationship itself.

​

Both plays used the same simple set, but I did find myself questioning why everything was set far stage right which left an unfortunately large chasm of emptiness on one side of the stage. This became Nick’s playing space in No Velvet Divorce, but this separation mixed with the persistent dipping to black between scenes halted the dynamic and flow; especially following Sudan which was a one state constantly flowing show.

Overall, Three River Theatre’s venture in presenting a double bill is one that hopefully will continue to be explored by major companies in the future as a wonderful opportunity to see and produce new Australian, and Tasmanian works on stage. Book your tickets and get along to support.

 

Review by Matt Taylor