Review: SPEAKING IN TONGUES at State Theatre Centre

Andrew Bovell's Speaking in Tongues is less a play and more a masterfully woven tapestry of fractured relationships and chance encounters. This production at the WA State Theater Centre, brought to life by the BLACK SWAN State Theater Company, proves why the play—famously adapted into the film Lantana—has become a cornerstone of modern Australian theater. With unusual and well executed scenes and intertwining dialogue, the play expertly explores the subtle betrayals and profound connections that define our lives, leaving audiences to untangle the web of secrets and lies. Speaking in Tongues is a gripping drama that leaves you guessing until the very end.

The play opens with lives separating, with the four characters unable to grasp how closely they truly are to one another as they try to push each other away. Indeed, the closeness and simplicity of the characters is perfectly illustrated by shared scenery and dialogue, and an insistence that relationships have changed irreparably only goes further to highlight how close the characters truly are and how little things truly change. To execute the plot, director Humphrey Bower utilises minimal setting, and whilst a bed, couch, or phone box may not sound like much to create a world, it shows that these simple and small areas are the entire bounds of the character’s worlds for that period of time. Fiona Bruce’s set cleverly dropped in and out, with the curtain only coming down to end scenes. Mark Haslam provides light and video projections, again adding so much to the play with minimal changes.

The play is held together by four characters who play a total of nine different but markedly similar characters. Catherine Moore, Alexandria Steffensen, Luke Hewitt and Matt Edgerton come and go as characters and plot points, each portraying varied and contrasting characters. Whilst even the switches between characters are not necessarily marked- the greatest difference between Hewitt’s Leon and Neil characters, for example, is a pair of shoes- each actor deftly does enough (or indeed doesn’t do the right things) to accentuate each character’s personality and provide points of difference even as the story flows around them.

Andrew Bovell’s Speaking in Tongues is a masterful and intricate theatrical experience that transcends a simple plot. Through its expertly woven narrative, the play explores the fragile threads of human connection, highlighting the profound impact of secrets and chance encounters on our lives, and The BLACK SWAN State Theater Company's production at the WA State Theater Centre is a testament to the play's enduring power. Director Humphrey Bower's use of minimalist setting and the clever, subtle contributions of Fiona Bruce's set and Mark Haslam's lighting and video projections create an intimate world that invites you in, before revealing the uncomfortable, often brutal truths that lie beneath the surface of the characters' lives. There is much to consider within Speaking in Tongues, but there is plenty to enjoy.

Speaking in Tongues is at The State Theatre Centre until September 14. Tickets and more information from BLACK SWAN Theatre Company.