Only a play – but the state of affairs is actual!

Theatre / “I Have No Enemies”, Naked Witness Theatre and Arts Capital. At The Ralph Wilson Theatre, till March 11. Reviewed by JOE WOODWARD.

HOW would possibly theatre cope with complicated and extremely political and social points and hold an viewers’s consideration over two hours of efficiency? 

Naked Witness Theatre has taken up the problem of presenting a extremely researched and really detailed examine on surveillance as skilled by the event of the web. 

To attain this goal, creative director Christopher Samuel Carroll and the corporate of Rachel Pengilly, Brendan Kelly and Ash Hamilton have included references to standard films of the ’90s and used very particular digital manufacturing components from Chloe Brett and Brad Moss at SilverSun Photos.

Most significantly, they utilised a really bodily fashion of presentation that was directly compelling whereas reminding their viewers that that is only a play; but the state of affairs is actual!

The manufacturing requires an clever and perceptive viewers to share within the stage adventures. The actors do all they’ll to entertain, enlighten and have interaction with the viewers. Use of irony and self-effacing quips remind us of the vulnerability of theatre and artists tackling monumental points that the majority would relatively ignore. 

The intimacy of The Ralph Wilson Theatre offers for a workshop atmosphere the place the viewers can listen in on the characters whereas being invited to witness the act of eavesdropping in a extra sinister type by way of hacking and sanctioned surveillance of all of them. 

The vocal abilities of the actors and the ensemble taking part in principally saved the manufacturing flowing. Carroll’s use of accents was one thing not seen in his earlier works on the stage. Originally of the present, his voice was so reworked as to be unrecognisable. Vocal taking part in allowed for an efficient breaking out of character and into direct contact with the audiences as the true actors and never merely the characters they performed.

Naked Witness have created a most worthwhile and well timed theatre manufacturing that utilises the theatre gadgets pioneered by Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator. Over the a long time numerous Australian firms comparable to CMI and The Widespread Theatre Group have explored theatre giving vent to problems with deep social and political concern. Naked Witness offers theatre that’s rapid, needed and maintains a way of its personal limitations.

The size of the work is a matter that is likely to be addressed. Whereas some repetition of central illustrations of the themes is critical, there’s room for sharpening some sections of the play and eradicating any cluttering components. 

With the help of the viewers over the season, such work consideration will little doubt evolve. As the corporate states, the viewers performs an integral position in a theatre that bears witness to the modern social and cultural milieu. Extremely complicated points are confronted by everybody within the viewers and their consideration to the main points of the work. Naked Witness Theatre has offered the platform for exploration and shared adventures between actors, technicians and audiences.