A Jethro Compton production. Noel Lothian Hall, Adelaide Botanic Gardens. 13 Feb 2016
It is a dusty haze one encounters on entry to ‘The Bunker’. It takes a few moments for eyes to adjust as we find our way to bench seating. Earth grinding beneath our feet as we slide into position; the bunker slowly reveals itself as one becomes accustomed to the darkness.
The haze begins to clear…
We are boxed into an underground shelter. The walls lined with hessian and clad in timber planks. Oil lanterns hang from the ceiling providing a warm, dull glow. The sounds of no-mans-land, a desolate windy plane, can be heard sweeping above our heads.
We are at war.
Two male voices begin to harmonise, in acapella, with a performance of Silent Night. It is Christmas, and the war is on hold for a few hours while both sides take time to celebrate. It is a break earned, but short lived. A time for the soldier’s minds to travel to nicer places, to better times, to loved ones lost and left behind.
And travel they do.
In this horrible place it is all they have to keep themselves sane. They share stories from their past, of loved ones waiting, and occasionally to events imagined; dreamed; desired.
They are Arthur, Gawain, and Lancelot. Names fondly bestowed upon each other as young friends growing up together in boarding school; the knights of the round table, playing out their fantasy in the very real, very awful reality of war.
Herein lays the legend of Morgana. Literally Morgan le Fay in Arthurian legends, but also know by many other incarnations, she is a mythical enchantress, wanton and full of unrequited love. Whether she is real in the character of the Frenchwoman who falls for the soldier Gawain, or simply a figment of his imagination and desire we may never know.
The Bunker Trilogy was first performed in Adelaide in 2014 taking the Fringe award for Best Theatre. Now internationally acclaimed, the audience anticipation is palpable; expectations are high.
And we are not disappointed. The production is spectacular.
The four actors, Hayden Wood as Arthur, Jonathan Mathews as Gawain, Sam Donnelly as Lancelot, and Bebe Sanders as Morgana are spectacular to watch. Their performance is a lesson in focus, energy and restraint.
Produced and designed by Jethro Compton Productions with a vision to create “cinematic, innovative and exciting theatre”, one can say the brief has been met and exceeded.
The whole production is visceral. The penultimate scene brings a tear to the eye.
This trilogy is acclaimed with good reason, and The Bunker Trilogy’s, Morgana is a show not to be missed.
Paul Rodda
When: 13 Feb to 14 Mar
Where: Noel Lothian Hall, Adelaide Botanic Gardens
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
