Review: MR RED LIGHT at Herald Theatre, Aotea Centre

Heading shortly to Australia on tour, Mr Red Light is a powerful performance piece by Carl Bland of Nightsong, one of New Zealand’s most bold theatre companies. With the cutting of arts funding in New Zealand making independent theatre a perilous endeavour, it is a daring and courageous step to embark on projects such as these.

However, Australian audiences (see the dates below) - this is a show you definitely need to get along to see. At the core is a powerful social truth. “Life is about the people you’ve touched – we don’t exist alone.”  On so many levels, this is intelligent, creative and innovative theatre at its best.

Deftly directed by Ben Crowder and Carl Bland,  Mr Red Light positions you in the frightening, tense  and vulnerable world of a hostage scenario . Well-positioned action, a superbly crafted script, credible characterisation,  inspired set design, suspense-filled atmospheric lighting and sound coalesce to bring this unique comic hostage drama effectively to life.

Initially, it captures the audience on a visual level.  Brightly coloured in those typical marketing colours, the pie shop setting of Jokers is suggestive of other pie shop franchises.  The Edward Hopper influenced set is both familiar, strikingly real and creative. The audience peers in through the front glass window and watches (close up) the dramatic action – that of a comic hostage drama - unfold. The path in front of the shop allows for realistic entrances and exits, providing a depth of foreground and background action. We are immediately engaged with the entrance of the first character, Eva (Jennifer Ludlam) an elderly woman, haphazardly dressed, confused, desperately unhappy. She's dragging a shabby bag on wheels as much as her life is dragging her down, as if she’s in “a world I am longer a part of.”  The audience will come to further appreciate her various sides – hurt, helpful, hindering but ultimately compassionate and philosophically rich.

Secondly, Bland’s unfolding narrative offers compelling, somewhat blackly comic stories. Eva introduces the concept – “that stories come to you – you don’t invent them.”  “All fiction is a fight against the absurd.”  The evolving stories of the main characters all forced to spend time together in a hostage scenario form the basis of the plot. Their stories are vivid, compassionate, comic and realistic. Their words force us to question our philosophies and our values.   We are shown the importance of connection rather than isolation, and how often it’s a powerful catalyst that forces us to change.

Thirdly, intense acting and vocally contrasted characters create skilful variations of diction and delivery throughout the play.  Excellent work from Nova Moala-Knox as the strongly feminist, “dark all the time”, and argumentative Chrys. “How come only two of your pies have female names”.  Under it all, she is battling her own long term guilt.  Effective contrasts are fashioned in the suitably subdued Joker (Angus Stevens) who embodies the man on the sideline, trying hard to please both himself and his customers. And then there’s Mr. Red Light himself, (Brayden Cresswell), the would-be hostage taker, who acts as that dramatic catalyst of change.

Mr Red Light sees himself as the unluckiest man in the world, symbolically halted by a series of red lights, never allowing him to achieve anything he sets out to achieve. “Life makes sense for you but for many of us... we don’t understand why things just don’t go right for us, why awful things keep happening to us, things we don’t deserve..” Outstanding physical flair, vocal and psychological truth from Brayden Cresswell, a recent graduate from Toi Whakaari in his first professional role.  The dialogue throughout is spontaneously fresh, snappy and realistic, and at some points surprisingly funny, at others deeply profound. Writer and director, Carl Bland skillfully enacts a number of roles – all of which embellish the thematic depth and provide both humour and pathos. This exceptional cast is deliberately diverse in experience and age, providing depth, energy and definite audience appeal.

Finally, as the well-paced narrative progresses, the thematic depth of the production is exposed. This is a script crafted with tension, humour, philosophy  and suspense – a unique mix.  We are, says Bland, through his dialogue: “Specks of ancient energy in time” “fighting to stay alive.”  “Time is real – it’s how we order our lives. Time exists only as memories and expectations – a collection of events.” And most importantly, “it is not the heart that measures time – it’s our mind.”  The final minutes of the play are intensely dramatic, thought-provoking and stay with you long after the curtain call. 

The world of live theatre is always engaging.  This is an artistically directed, highly entertaining, superbly crafted, expertly performed, atmospherically rich production that shouldn’t be missed.

Australian Shows:

27 June, HOTA, Gold Coast

 2 – 5 July, merrigong Theatre, Wollongong

 9-12 July, Riverside Theatre, Paramatta, Sydney