Mia Oudes
Absurdist theatre is a movement that, in essence, agrees with the idea first coined by philosopher Albert Camus, absurdism. In short, it is that the universe is inherently absurd and life is pointless. Here we are, emotional human creatures, trapped in this nonsense without the ability to change it. I am a Camus fan and I love this idea. As a consequence, I really enjoy the genre and I am excited to see this show.
Antarctic Endeavours markets itself as an absurdist play on the BATS website, and it sets itself in this context well.
I walk in to see a programme with delightful graphics on my seat, as designed by Cate Sharma. 50s music plays in the background, LED bars flicker on the floor, and the sides of the set look like a tech closet. Everything is slightly uneasy, but not unexpected.
The show opens and we meet Suzanne and Tom Denborough (Stella Vaivai and Ethan Cranefield) who are robotic, enthusiastic, and perfectly perfect in every possible way. Despite their unnerving smiles, they are somehow sweet and manage to step away from being creepy. Suzanne and Tom are dressed in complementary 50s clothes - he, finely tailored business wear, and she, a vibrant, red polka dot dress - which sell the image that these two people cannot possibly be real. They are contrasted by their Real Estate Agent (Joshua Hughes) who seems comparatively normal. He has details on his suit that give a hint of a man with unusual tastes and I very quickly change my mind on him. I don’t trust him, and for good reason as it turns out. Ava O’Brien’s costumes are splendid and offer archetypes for the characters that fit them well.
Suzanne, Tom, and the Real Estate Agent run through a series of dwellings that differ in size and detail. The scenes flow smoothly as all elements of design, text, and movement work together to create the illusion that these spaces are truly unique to each other. Director, Peggy Barnes, holds these moving parts and finds moments to pull focus to the actors and allows for the design to be the star. Production Designer, Scott Maxim, finds creative ways to balance the AV, lighting, and props allowing each of these elements to have their moment. His production design is wide-ranging and it plays a big role in setting the theatricality and overall tone of the text. It is accompanied by some of my favourite sound design that I’ve heard so far this year. Alex Quinn offers knocking on doors, tortured violins, picking moments to actively choose silence, and they curated with attention to detail.
All of these elements together make for a start that is well paced, suitably absurd, and rather fun.
As we move past some of the games, we make our way into a show that shifts in tone so significantly that it feels like a different play. There are some moments of lightness, like when we meet Romeo (Lincoln Swinerd) who is a very dedicated, passionate loverboy and see a fake blood reveal that made me turn to my friend and say nice. But generally, in this change, it loses some of its intentionality and intensity.
There are a few of things that I would attribute this to. To speak to them, the following part of the review will contain spoilers.
Foremost, I want to note that the makers created some great moments in the opening. This show won the Parkin Development award and this season is building from a show in Fringe this year. I did not see the first iteration of this show, but I still think it needs further refinement.
To me, the shift begins when things start to turn away from absurdism and the characters begin to fight to understand and later triumph over the meaninglessness of their existence. The commentary that the show offers is that if you fight against it, you will understand it and succeed, which is contrary to the mission of absurdist theatre. Without the driving force of absurdism, it then draws itself into being a story of these particular characters in this one specific, peculiar scenario. I think this is fine, and would not bother an audience member who doesn’t have expectations for it to be absurdist to the definition. The issue with it, though, is that these characters are no longer an allegory for the inescapable human struggle in an absurd world (which I automatically have empathy for) and the people I have spent the last half hour with are also not ‘real.’ I have no buy-in to their success because I don’t actually know who they are.
Because of this, the actors have to work a lot harder to sell their struggle. I think, across the board, more generosity and presence in the moment from the actors (as shaped by their director) would have benefitted the shift post-reveal. There were moments of commitment from Swinerd, endurance from Hughes, and connection between Vaivai and Cranefield, but they were often fleeting in the chaos. I would have loved to have seen more of the actors feeding each other energy, attention, and liveliness. Keeping their focus on making each other shine would elevate the relationships between the characters and bring a further dimension to the performances. I believe this to be true regardless of whether the characters know or like each other.
By the end of the show I was restless. I think some of the run time could be cut by losing some of the many moments that became repetitive. The script may benefit from some work on clarity and possibly reordering the sequencing of events. Currently, we get many variations of the same reveal, so some red pen and shifting the script around would strengthen the concept and storyline in any future iteration of this work.
Overall, I think this show is made by young practitioners who have a lot of potential. There are moments in there that were really clever and the design was well considered and very theatrical in nature, which I really enjoyed. I will be back to see another Ruckus Theatre show to see them build on this. They created some magical moments in the beginning that they should stay true to in future works.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Antarctic Endeavours is on at BATS until the August 17th. It is on at Pitt Street Theatre in Auckland from September 1 - 4th.