Review: Crazy And Comic, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION Shares The Power Of Art To Touch Deeper Than Expected

Annie Baker’s (Playwright) 2009 Obie Award winning Off-Broadway play, CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION is presented with humour and heart by director Dean Bryant.   A seemingly straightforward premise of an Adult Creative Drama class holds much more than breathing lessons and improvisation exercises. 

The premise of the work is that Marty (Rebecca Gibney), an acting teacher at the local community centre has finally convinced the powers that be to let her run an Adult Creative Drama class, a deviation from her usual classes for school aged children.  Her first class, that will run for one hour each week for six weeks, comprises of only four students.  Shy junior high student Lauren (Ahunim Abebe), divorced furniture carpenter Schultz (Nicholas Brown), former New York actress Theresa (Jessie Lawrence), and Marty’s husband, James (Cameron Daddo). Marty employs the common theatre games that have been used in drama classes, team building sessions and wellness retreats but having little apparent experience with adult participants, she ends up a bit out of her depth and the outcomes aren’t what are expected.

Designer Jeremy Allen has provided a multipurpose space that could double as a dance studio, gymnastics hall, yoga room, function room and, drama class ‘stage’.  A timber floor is bordered by a carpeted perimeter while one wall is all mirrors.  The lighting is a typical corporate type venue recessed into a wood feature ceiling.  Allen uses the costuming to express the passage of time and the nature of the characters.  Former professional actress Theresa is in black rehearsal attire while student Lauren favours skinny jeans and sweaters.  Instructor Marty has a more flowing and patterned attire connecting her to her ‘hippie’ artistic temperament while her husband James is the average middle class white suburban male. 

While at first the work can feel like just a parody of group therapy and team building workshops, not really connecting to the intention that it be a drama class, once the motive is understood it finds its stride as the audience is gradually introduced to the characters by way of another of Marty’s assignments.  Nicholas Brown and Ahunim Abebe’s performances feel like the most honest expressions of their characters.  Brown delivers Schultz’ social awkwardness with an endearing hesitancy, fearful that he’ll say the wrong thing while Abebe captures the essence of a sceptical teen wanting to observe from the sidelines, not convinced that Marty’s class will be able to land her dream role in the school musical.  Lawrence’s Theresa is putting on a brave face through most of the story so it is natural that the performance will feel like a façade as the newly separated newcomer wants to be seen to be in control of her life.  Daddo ensures that James is a balance of supportive participation paired with a degree of goofy embarrassing middle aged man finding a new outlet for his energy and interest in an otherwise possibly mundane life.  While Marty is the course instructor, Gibney’s portrayal conveys that Marty is somewhat out of her depth dealing with adults and navigating the unexpected challenges the present.

While CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION is an amusing comedy that is easily relatable for anyone that has attended any drama based team building and corporate workshop, the more powerful part of the piece is the human connections that form and how five people from different backgrounds come together to learn and grow, not just in themselves but also as a community.

https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/productions/2025/circle-mirror-transformation