Latitudes is the new play from emerging Perth theatre group The Lost Boys, and marks the debut theatrical work from acclaimed screenwriter, film maker and musician Mark Walsh. Directed by Mikala Westall it is a work suffused with ideas of memory and of forgetting. An at times clever, meditative and mesmerising piece Latitudes has ensured that the new season at the Blue Room is off to a strong start.
With the press release promising to the horror genre to the stage, I was initially quite apprehensive. Horror on stage can so often go wrong; and what should be scary can end up comical; and frankly cheesy. But fear not, Latitudes doesn’t go for the cheap scare, and there is no terrible FX makeup in sight (there is fake blood though); instead Latitudes delves into the psyche; and lends itself more to the more psychological horror typical of the gothic genre. There might be something in the water, but that’s not the truly scary part – it’s the lengths that we will go to forget an event, a trauma, or even a person.
Latitudes has three actresses, but for all intent and purposes one character. Tessa Carmody, Jo Morris and Claire Munday each play the same character at different points in their lives; Fifteen, thirty five and and fifty five years old. Each have arrived to a place, which for me seems like a pretty good fit for purgatory or limbo, with no memory of their names, or how they got there. Personally, I found having the same character from different points in their own timeline to be a fascinating story-telling device. For me it allowed the narrative and the underlying drive of the story to be revealed much slower, with little gems of narrative drip fed to audience; with each incarnation adding to the narrative offered by their counterparts, building the tension until it reached it’s squally crescendo.
Carmody, Morris and Munday all put in fine performances, each proving their own take on the character at different points in her life. I felt Carmody convincingly brought a sense of naive energy and that innate sense of compulsiveness that seems to manifest in the teenage years, to her depiction of the fifteen-year-old incarnation. Whereas, for me, Morris instead brought a degree of aloofness and assertiveness to her incarnation; there was an element of darkness and grief to her depiction; the significance of which doesn’t become clear until later in the play. Munday’s portrayal of the fifty-five year old incarnation was perhaps the most moving of the performances for me; with its inferences of dementia or memory loss. Indeed all the references to “the white climb” screamed psychiatric facility or aged care home to me. There was just a real sense of fragility and childlikeness about her character; that for me made for compelling viewing.
There was much to love about Latitudes, Westall’s direction was subtle and nuanced, a light touch that certainly helped the action flow and develop on stage. Kudos must of course go to Patrick Howe for his clever set design; once again Howe has managed to do wonders with the blank canvas that is the Blue Room; the bubbles may have provided a touch of the B-movie; but certainly provided an atmospheric and suitably gothic inspired setting for the action to unfold.
With a clever script, a strong cast, and fine directing Latitudes has a lot going for it; and certainly makes for an interesting and compelling night at the theatre. If The Lost Boys continue producing work of this quality I’m sure we’ll be seeing their name around town more and more.
Latitudes has performances at Perth’s Blue Room Theatre until September 5th. For more information and to purchase tickets visit: http://blueroom.org.au/events/latitudes/
The reviewer attended the opening night performance on the 20th August.
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