Review: Looking At The Lives Of Seemingly Ordinary People, THE MYSTERY OF LOVE & SEX Explores The Challenges Of Relationships, Identity And Belonging

Thursday 16th February 2017, 7:30pm, Eternity Playhouse Darlinghurst

Under the Anthony Skuse's direction, Bathsheba Doran's THE MYSTERY OF LOVE & SEX explores the lives of 4 individuals as they discover what it means to be loved, be in love, belong and be honest to themselves, and to those around them. Race, religion, sexuality, prejudice, guilt, fear and obligation all come together in a beautifully honest engaging performance.

Set over a series of locations, Skuse draws the focus on the participants rather than the places as he utilises Emma Vine's stark white sloped asymmetrical set, dressed with minimal accoutrements. A large dead tree hanging upside down toward the peak of the slope is the only constant, connecting the story to the tree that loomed over the southern American suburban home. Low coffee tables covered in a sheet, ready for a meal awaits the gathering at the lower end of the incline, later replaced by the lights of a suburban home, a childhood tyre swing and porch furniture which each help move the location whilst allowing space for movement and imagination.

The premise of the work is that college students Charlotte (Contessa Treffone) and Jonny (Thuso Lekwape) have been best friends since they were 9 years old. Having grown up as neighbours, they are now hosting Charlotte's parents in their dormitory room at a makeshift "bohemian" dinner table where they sit on the floor for a meal of salad, bread and wine. Her father Howard (Nicholas Papademetriou) is a Jewish crime novelist from New York and her mother Lucinda (Deborah Galanos), or Lulu Belle, is a carefree southern belle and they carry on like many parents, quizzing Charlotte on her relationship with Jonny, and believing that he's still the same child they remember with average grades and not participating in extracurricular school events, regardless of Charlotte's assertions that it wasn't Jonny's choice to not get involved. Howard is brash, blunt, and judgemental whilst deep down loving his family, and Jonny, who has come to be like a son to him, even if he fails to express it, often provoking him with black vs Jewish comments. Lucinda is encouraging but also appears to be struggling with her own demons of addictions and illicit substances as she re-evaluates her life all the while trying to protect her child. Anglosaxon Charlotte has been raised Jewish whilst the African American Jonny was raised by his mother, having never known his father, and grew up with strict Baptist values. Both kids grow and mature, dealing with the challenges of discovering and accepting who they are and how that sits with the culture and expectations they have been bought up with, causing riffs, heartache and confusion.

Skuse keeps the work honest with a realistic flow to the dialogue, capturing a wonderful balance between silence and speech, passion and passive, and control and freedom. Voice coach Linda Nicholls-Gidley has done a wonderful job with the cast to ensure consistent accents and speech patterns particularly Papademetriou's Jewish New Yorker and Galanos' rich Southern drawl. Alistair Wallace's sound design sets a lovely gentle tone to the dorm room dinner party with Joni Mitchell's Chelsea Morning and Verity Hampson's lighting helps define the various locations and times of day.

As Charlotte, Contessa Treffone captures the confused youth with an honesty capturing the young woman's awkwardness and inner conflict. She ensures Charlotte's growth between the first half of the play and the second half is clear in her speech patterns and her physicality. Treffone expresses the bizarre reasoning of youth and desperation as she tries to make things better trying to seduce Jonny because he should lose his virginity to a friend rather than some random girl. She exudes Charlotte's pathetic lost confusion as she tries to prove to herself and Jonny that she is straight. Later, Treffone allows Charlotte's physicality to mature to a confidence as she returns to her family to discuss her wedding years after she's graduated university.

Thuso Lekwape presents Jonny as a quieter foil to Charlotte's energy and alcoholism. He ensures that Jonny is seen as a well bought up, good catholic boy with nice manners but not forgetting his heritage. Whilst it takes Jonny a while to admit his true persuasion, Lekwape ensures that the audience knows the young man's secret early on through his mannerism and voice intonation. His explosion at Howard is passionate and painful as we see the world through his eyes as an African American in a white Anglo Saxon society for traditional families whilst he never knew his father. Lekwape also expresses Jonny's growth and maturity along with his repentance and regret.

As mother Lucinda, Deborah Galanos captures the Southern Belle as a rebel whilst also wanting to shield her daughter. She provides a contrast to Papademetriou's Howard, making it clear they are very different people and that she possibly did marry Howard to annoy her Christian family and is now staying for Charlotte's sake. Galanos lets Lucinda become more and more free and careless, going from the attempt to quit smoking with meditation to the more honest expression fuelled by alcohol and marijuana. The moments between Charlotte and Lucinda before Charlotte's wedding are powerful and poignant in their intimacy and final honest connection.

Father Howard is presented with a gravitas by Nicholas Papademetriou as he captures the stereotypical New York Jew. As with Lucinda, Howard seeks to protect his child whilst being challenged by her choices as she grows up, and unintentionally ostracising Jonny, who he doesn't realise wanted to feel a connection with him. He captures the vestages of his age and upbringing and the white washed male dominated heterosexual cultural norm that still prevails whilst conveying that these were subconscious prejudices, not active biases.

THE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND SEX is well presented, thought provoking and whilst rounded out with a happy ending, filled with a liberal dose of hurt, regret and guilt. This is a highly relevant work that is relatable and hopefully sends a message to promote honesty, acceptance and understanding particularly when faced with the challenge of understanding identity. It is also universal in the exploration of love and the benefit of finding real love, not just going with what society expects.

THE MYSTER OF LOVE AND SEX

10 February - 12 March 2017

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