Trelawney Edgar – Theatre Press

Dark stories unfold

By Myron My

Home Invasion is a play that looks at obsession and disconnection. It’s about people dealing with destructive behaviours in their lives: a housewife who is haunted by JonBenét Ramsey, a schoolgirl with violent tendencies; and a mechanic who feels guilty for the death of a young woman.

The cast of six – Kristina Benton, Nathan Burmeister, Trelawney Edgar, Ashleigh Goodison, Wayne Tunks and Grace Travaglia – worked well in exploring their characters and allowing them to go down the dark path. There were some well-crafted moments among them, with especially strong scenes between Benton and Goodison and Edgar and Burmeister.

Unfortunately, the direction by playwright Christopher Bryant was sorely disappointing. There was too much sitting or standing and not enough doing in this 90-minute show. The long scenes had no differentiation between them and the acting seemed stifled because of this. Bryant however is a capable writer and it was interesting to see how the separate threads from each story slowly began to weave in together, although I felt the musical interludes with the cast singing could have been cut.

The stage set up was also lacking in Home Invasion. With no “backstage” area, when the actors were not in the scene that was being played out, they sat on stools directly behind the performance space. The proximity of how close they were proved to be very distracting with every drink they took from their water bottle, every itch that was scratched or any readjustment that was made being done in plain sight of the audience.

The extremely minimal set design did not help with either, and seemed to actually be hindering the show from building the environment these people lived in. Apart from the wall painted pink, there was nothing visually stimulating about the show. The venue may be small but I’ve seen many productions performed in this theatre where some simple set pieces and discreet visual touches helped immensely to bring their worlds to life for the audience.

Whilst the writing and the acting in Home Invasion are admirable, I ultimately felt the remaining elements of the show still need to be further developed to allow the audience to build a stronger connection with the characters and the chilling world they are creating for us.

Venue: La Mama Theatre, 205 Faraday Street, Carlton

Season: Until 7 June | Wed 6:30pm, Thurs-Sat 7:30pm,

Tickets: $25 Full | $15 Conc

Bookings: La Mama Theatre

Disturbingly funny

By Narelle Wood

With a title like Third Reich Mommie, I knew this performance was either going to be good, bad or completely bizarre; it was all three and didn’t disappoint. The storyline centres on the dysfunctional relationship between an ex-actress turned spy turned agoraphobic mother Bridgette (Christopher Bryant) and at-times sweet and at other times homicidal daughter, Cassidy (Trelawney Edgar).

Caught in the middle of the neurosis is a sexually confused and charged boy, Jock (Nathan Burmeister), who’s captured the attention of mother and daughter, and the gestapo-esque housekeeper, Ada (Ashleigh Goodson) who juxtaposes her caring nature and sugary singing voice with random bouts of shouting in German.

The plot was initially hard to follow as it twists and turns in such a way that you know someone is up to something, but you’re not exactly sure what is afoot right up until the end when Bridgette Van Kamp’s sordid past and Cassidy’s ‘shining’ future is revealed.

The humour is, for the most part, completely inappropriate but also indiscriminate, targeting Jews, Nazis, homosexuals, Germans, mothers, fathers, and children, and the cast make no apology for this in their performance. Christopher Bryant’s physicality as well as his timing resulted in him delivering some of the show’s most controversial lines, jokes about incinerators and death camps, with comedic flair.

Daniel Lammin, the director, had warned us of some late changes due to unforeseen technical difficulties; the only thing I noticed was how smooth the lighting, scene and sound transitions were given the small number of people in the performance group. It was at times hard to hear, partly because of the acoustics of such a large room, partly the competing noise from the rest of the convent and partly the German accents.

For me Ashleigh Goodson stole the show, which was no mean feat given the strength of the other performers and the seemingly superfluous role that her character played. However it was Ada, and in turn Goodson’s portrayal of the character, that enabled me to slowly put together what appeared to be random schizophrenic conversations.

With good acting, bad characters and a completely bizarre storyline, it is definitely worth keeping an eye out for any future runs of Third Reich Mommie.

Venue: Abbotsford Convent, Rosina Auditorium CBD

Season: 16 – 25th January 2014