Tasmania Performs. The Canberra Theatre Centre. 10 Apr 2013
Tasmania seems a little underrepresented in the theatre stakes on the East Coast of Australia, so it was pleasant to see some of our talented cousins from further south grace the stage at the Courtyard Studio to strut their stuff with this dark and ruminative offering.
Two years in the making, As We Forgive is a trio of sombre monologues by veteran Tassie performer, Robert Jarman that penetrate the deepest inner lives of three men who are mid-battle with their demons.
Eloquently exploring the intricacies and propellants of vengeance, hatred and forgiveness, this production rips high drama from the relics of history and places it firmly within the realm of the everyday person.
Essentially it proposes that under the surface of each human being is the potential to experience intensely ‘undesirable’ emotional states, as well as the goodness that many assume is innate within us all, breaking down the superficial notion of good and evil.
The common theme running through each act is that all of the men experience a traumatic event in their lives that awake feelings inside of them. These feelings force them to question who they thought they were, and what they were capable of being.
Just from the grim, solitary soundscape (by composer Raffaele Marcellino and cellist Antony Morgan) alone, you could tell that this wasn’t going to be easy theatre. Indeed, when Jarman began the difficult task of capturing the audience’s imagination for such introspective subject matter, for a while I wasn’t sure if he was going to succeed in hooking them in.
However, both persevered and formed a good level of engagement by the end of the first act, enabled by the mastery of one very seasoned performer, a manageable duration of time and some subtle, yet haunting multimedia installations by the creative team that articulated as much depth as playwright Tom Holloway’s elegantly crafted words.
Jarman, as the tainted everyman, is admirable in his firm commitment to each character’s unapologetic conviction, and displays a heart wrenching level of vulnerability and courage regarding the unapologetically morbid themes throughout.
As We Forgive is a good reminder that none of us are immune from misfortune or the changes to our inner world as a result. Refreshingly, it doesn’t seek to offer a soft landing by implying that we are all capable of eventually transcending from darkness into light, but is rather a disarmingly honest insight into human nature.
Deborah Hawke
When: Closed
Where: The Canberra Theatre Centre
Bookings: Closed
