A night of outdoor theatre beside a body of water, preceded by a liberal application of insect repellent and dinner of hot chips and ice-cream, screams summer in Australia before the show has even begun.
The programme notes from Black Swan State Theatre Company’s Artistic Director Kate Champion on directing this production state: “I’ve always been drawn to art that recreates a sense of authenticity”.
Staging the world premiere production of Sydneysider Steve Rodgers’ 'The Pool' at an actual public swimming pool then, seemingly goes beyond merely recreating a sense of the authentic. But it’s perhaps because of this real world setting that other elements feel all the more contrived.
Seated in poolside bleachers, the audience is issued headphones which make audible the cast’s live dialogue, underpinned by Tim Collins’ summer soundscape. Interspersed with recorded inner monologues that play when each of the ensemble’s main characters take a turn coming to the fore, the stereo surround-sound adds to feeling you’re overlooking a film set, more than watching a play.
Although an admirable integration of tech, it’s almost more challenging to suspend disbelief you’re eavesdropping on people at your local pool when – rather than sitting in a darkened theatre where only the action’s illuminated (the fourth wall a portal between what’s real and imagined) – you’re under the spill of floodlights, starkly aware of your role as theatre-goer, in a sea of black headsets.
Image © Daniel J Grant
Undoubtedly a logistical feat, one wonders how much more successfully immersive the production could have been if the audience was given the chance to roam the outdoor pool spaces (in designated areas alongside the actors – as in the company’s site-specific 'The Cherry Orchard' a few years back) to ‘overhear’ the play’s vignettes in more realistic proximity.
As it is, with a static set, lighting state and audience (positioned as fly-on-the-wall voyeurs), expectations are heightened for the writing and performances to bring the dynamism.
Though it takes a minute to get into the rhythm and flow of the piece – constantly scanning the 50m pool and perimeter for the action to hone in on – what’s immediately clear is the award-winning talents of actors Joel Jackson and WA’s Kylie Bracknell as the pool’s swim instructor and manager.
Long-time WA theatre favourites Geoff Kelso and Julia Moody – playing regular pool users Roy and Val – don’t disappoint either, the direction of the ensemble to suspend animation during Roy’s monologue used to great effect (as is, by the way, a ‘chorus’ of swimmers who – choreographed in both stylistic and naturalistic ways – ‘fill in’ the vast set space and add interest to each scene).
Arguably under-utilised are recent WAAPA graduates Tobias Muhafidin and Edyll Ismail as teenagers on a date they’re keeping secret from their Asian and African parents. While credit’s given for bringing diverse new talents to the mainstream stage, the show’s script does seem to focus more around the characters closer to ‘white boomer’ (the demographic of the writer and, seemingly, target audience).
We should be thankful, though, for the moments these rising stars do captivate. Having already been cast in a recurring role in NBC’s 'La Brea', and with Europe beckoning, don’t expect Ismail at least to remain down under for long.
Image © Daniel J Grant
As for being site-specific, yes, the play’s location gives an Aussie flavour to the characters and relationships set against it (and with water – the undercurrent theme) but it doesn’t make these stories distinctly Westralian. The few insert-local-placename-here moments feel clumsy at best.
If this is a legitimate endeavour (as the show programme notes) to counteract a perception of theatre as elitist by ‘taking it to the people’ in a community setting – not just lip-service to funding bodies – then it’s a shame the centrally-located (and genuinely egalitarian) first choice Beatty Park was unavailable due to redevelopment.
Of interest would be the number of first-time patrons this event did attract, being staged instead in Perth’s third wealthiest suburb. I'd be even more interested in how such an exercise in audience development might go in the farther-flung suburbs of Perth (or conversely, Sydney’s inner west).
So, as art “through which we can recognise ourselves, our family, and our neighbours, but also a way for us to us to see, hear and, hopefully come to understand and appreciate those we know less intimately, those we sometimes judge at face value” the director’s notes proclaim this to be, is 'The Pool' successful? To the extent, say, an episode of 'Neighbours' might be (and this very well could be).
To really understand and appreciate some of these characters, they’d need their own ‘episode’, rather than the ‘slice of life’ approach, which here doesn’t cut, or should I say dive, deep enough.
I did however learn that Australia has an estimated 2,000+ swimming pools and (fun fact) that between the ages of 50 and 80 there’s an almost 50 per cent chance of a woman’s uterus falling out!
So while some audience members leave buoyed from joining the cast in the pool for the final aqua aerobics scene, some of us are left soaking in the play’s realities.
★★★☆☆ 1/2.
Words: Dianah Star
