For playwright Young Jean Lee, 'Straight White Men' isn’t about privilege or revealing anything new about it – it’s about the questions it raises for us. There’s no neat way of framing it and there’s certainly no definitive answers, but it’s something we should question ourselves.
We watch as three brothers return to the upper-middle class home of their widowed dad for Christmas. It’s an uncomfortably familiar scene as siblings fall back into the bickering, jokes and stories of their adolescence. Drew, the youngest, and a budding open-minded academic, bickers with older brother, Jake. Jake’s the successful banker with too many hard truths he’s more than happy to share. They’re rounded out by their oldest and most brilliantly minded brother, Matt, who’s moved back home with dad and has gone quiet. It’s all slapstick, jokes and dance battles until the simple act of Matt bursting into tears raises some questions – the kind you don’t want to discuss over Christmas lunch.
© Kate PardeyThe tight ensemble work is what really makes this piece come together. Lucas Stibbard, Chris Pitman, Hugh Parker and Roger Newcombe bounce off one another with ease bringing this family dynamic to life. This is a rare case where there are no standouts because the relationship dynamics are so well crafted. The addition of Alexis Wes as a stage hand in charge, smoothly moving scenes along and manipulating the set is powerful, and her energy adds to the comedy.
In her final piece as State Theatre’s associate director, Nescha Jelk adds a sharp layer to a very funny play with a dark underbelly. The different levels that the play works on at one time could have dragged, but Jelk’s use of loud, hip-hop and tight comedic pacing of the piece stop it from falling into a family melodrama. Instead, it lets you hit the ground as you get to the meat of the final act.
A huge commendation must be made between the beautiful clashing of set and soundtrack. Victoria Lamb’s uneasily familiar family home set clashes, but somehow works with Kim Bowers’ (the delicious Hot Brown Honey from the Adelaide Fringe) loud and demanding score.
© Kate PardeyThe brilliance of Lee’s script is not the creepily familiar, but how masterfully the rug will be pulled from under you. These characters are people we all know and are probably sitting next to (the ones shuffling uncomfortably when a comment on stage hit a little too close to home). Yet the play is never peachy -- an important point to be noted. Everyone will take something different away and that is why 'Straight White Men' is an important piece of modern theatre.
A successful play lingers in your mind long after you’ve left the theatre. It picks away in your subconscious, raising questions and encouraging discussion. 'Straight White Men' does this more than any recent play of memory.
If the audience members shuffling in their seats uncomfortably wasn’t a sign of being onto something, the little questions in your mind after the show leading to an important discussion of a bigger kind should be.
© Kate Pardey★★★★☆ 1/2.
'Straight White Men' plays at the Space Theatre Adelaide until 23 July, and La Boite Theatre in Brisbane from 27 July - 13 August.
