Review: 4000 MILES at Little Theatre, University Of Adelaide

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, Saturday 9th October 2021.

I am not a violent person, well, there was that one time, but about halfway through the first act of 4000 Miles, by Amy Herzog, directed by Erik Strauts, I wanted to walk onto the stage of the Little Theatre, grab Leo Joseph-Connelly by the hair, and slap him till he came to his senses. He's a self-oriented, disingenuous young man, and Jackson Barnard has him to a T.

Leo has just cycled the titular 4000 miles across the USA and wakes his elderly, deaf grandmother up at 3 in the morning. She, once she's put her teeth in and found her hearing aid, is both delighted and mystified by his arrival. Julie Quick is a sprightly octogenarian as the grandmother, Vera. She may shuffle on her feet and have problems getting off the couch, but she dresses well and takes pride in her life. Vera is of an age where all her friends are dying. In one scene, she returns from a funeral and, in the final scene, she and Leo bond over an obituary speech for the funeral they are about to attend.

Leo has his own tragedy to process. His cycling mate, Micah, was killed in a totally bizarre fashion under crates of chickens that had fallen from a truck. He's also grappling with an incident in his past when he kissed his sister, Lily, not too much tongue, but she's actually adopted from China, so it's not quite so tacky, is it? Is that why she's in therapy?

Although this is an American play, and takes place in Manhattan, the decision to mute the accents also displaces some of the history. Vera's late husband wrote an authoritative book on the Cuban situation. The two of them were communists and social activists, though Leo's mother votes Democrat. If you emphasise the New York Jewish element, the social context becomes so much deeper. How do the activists of the sixties view their grandchildren, so obsessed with finding themselves, and losing any sense of community? They're environmentally active, maybe. Leo courts his ex-girlfriend with a pumpkin from a community garden but, apart from vegetable love, what does he have to offer? His approach to women is clumsy, and watching the two young women in the play fend him off is one of the highlights of the evening.

There's delightful detail from Laura Antoniazzi as Bec, the ex, who has moved to New York and has her career in view. She cares about him but has, in a sense, hopped on her bike and left him behind. The other woman is Amanda, picked up in a bar. In her one scene, Naomi Gomez leaves everything in a state of disarray. She is just amazing. In fuchsia silk, with matching bandaid, she stalks the stage in platform heels. She has family money and wants to be a superstar in the arts. She just needs to decide which art will be graced by her presence. She gets all the big laughs.

It's an ideal play for the Little Theatre; four actors, one principal set, the lounge room of Vera's apartment, and a breakout scene on the balcony as Leo introduces her to marijuana. "It's not doing anything for me", she giggles. The slow breaks between scenes, covering her costume changes in the first act, will speed up.

Erik Strauts has done a fine job with this cast to keep this sentimental study of the widening gap between young and old, and the slow resolution, and it will please many people looking for something comforting from live theatre.

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