If turning the AIDS epidemic into an musical seems a little macabre, any audience of Jonathan Larson's soaring and spirited 'RENT' is left to conclude "well, what else can you do?".
For these anti-heroes, they are making it through, barely, in New York's East Village in the late 80s, with only their dreams, and each other. They are rock-singing their way through lost love and late rent amidst a pervasive late-capitalist sickness of both body and soul.
With this Blackout Theatre Company production, first time director Jordan Anderson makes use of a solid ensemble and excellent on-stage band to strike a fairly good balance between the themes of tragedy and survival, and keep the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre tapping for a barely noticeable 165 minutes.
Image © Angela HannaThe theme of survival is the strength of the production. The task for Blackout was to give us an idea of what creates meaning in the lives of the modern poor, particularly when there seems to be no end in sight to the struggle and pain. The stage, piled with junk, is their city and their home: here we witness the underground mania and filthy chic of urchins, cross-dressers, artists and rock musicians who populate the cast. As an established amateur company with 15 years of production experience, Blackout is able to capitalise on great set design and capture the idea of community against the odds.
There is real energy between these folk, and it spills out into the crowd so that, at times, it feels more like attending a concert than a play. Since the gritty, punk aesthetic has also been achieved to perfection by costumers Angela Therese Hanna and Katie Griffiths, their in-your-face style makes these characters challenging to love, so it is an even more astounding feat of Blackout's production that we definitely do. This is also down to the acting. While there were no stragglers in this department, standout performers are Marika Zorlu as lawyer Joanne Jefferson, and Elisa Vitagliani as her lover, Maureen Johnson. These two on stage together are hot and hilarious. Luke Quinn as flamboyant Angel Dumott Schunard is also a crowd favourite.
Image © Angela HannaThe other thing that makes you feel like you are at a concert at 'RENT' is the vocals. Even the very odd missed note seems in keeping with the aesthetic. Joshua Ridge, as Roger Davis, puts in a fairly understated acting job. This actually works for his character and the ensemble, which is otherwise populated with complete extroverts. However, his vocals are so superb that you almost can't believe they are emitting from this slouchy, moody character with the dangly hair. It is quite compelling.
The staging keeps everyone interested, moving slickly between multi-level settings played on scaffolding, and intense sung-dialogue (singalogue?) at bare front-of-stage. One missed opportunity in this production could perhaps be that community spirit and survival overtakes the potential to play the obvious tragedy of these people's lives. It feels decidedly upbeat, even at the lowest points.
Image © Angela HannaAdmittedly, the endurance of the musical score (there is literally no spoken dialogue) doesn't really allow for much stillness. One simply must keep bopping, even while there is death on stage.
'RENT' was worth a trip out to Penrith, and this reviewer looks forward to more from this great theatre company!
