Fairly Lucid Productions. Channel Nine Kevin Crease Studios. 6 Mar 2015
The Reckoning is a one-man play about gay-hate crime. At its heart is an exploration of the case of the death of Scott Johnson, a talented 27-year-old American mathematics PhD student who was found dead at the base of a 50-metre cliff near Manly in December 1988. He was gay. His clothes were apparently left in a neat bundle on the cliff-top. Police assert his death was a suicide. Others believe he was a murdered – the tragic victim of a gay-hate crime.
The central tenet of the play is that Johnson was indeed murdered, that the police did not thoroughly investigate his death, and that there may even have been a cover up. It delves into key aspects that might have comprised a thorough investigation, especially whether there were witnesses who have not come forward, or whether there are other victims who managed to escape their tormentors who might be able to help shed light on Johnson’s case. Most chillingly, the play explores the possible motivation and psychological profile of someone who might commit such a crime.
The play is bold in its conception, but it suffers from a lack of coherence. The programme notes indicate that no fewer than twelve writers contributed to the script, and this results in a range of styles that the sole actor, Ben Noble, needs to negotiate. He has to work his way thorough various speech rhythms, grammatical styles, characterisations, and lexicons. Although these variations are appropriate to the range of characters he plays, he just doesn’t handle them well enough all the time.
Many scenes are separated by original songs that are sung by Noble to a recorded solo piano backing track, but they are mostly lack-lustre: the music is almost exclusively bogged down in common 4:4 time and comprises relentless use of block chords. Noble’s voice is pleasant, but it is very light and unable to extract the inherent pathos of the lyrics.
Noble handled several characters quite well: his portrayal of the bi-curious factory worker who ‘stumbled across’ a naked man sunning himself near a gay-beat was quite affecting, but his reading of the contemptible and vile poofter-basher was unnerving and totally absorbing. Bravo. This was the high point of the performance, and the rest of the play yearns for text of the same quality.
Kym Clayton
When: 4 Mar to 15 Mar
Where: Channel Nine Kevin Crease Studios
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
