Every Breath - Belvoir St

hmmm
sorry but this just  did not quite work .A fabulous performance by Shelly Lauman but ...
here's my thoughts for Sydney Arts Guide

http://www.sydneyartsguide.com/View-Review.asp?ReviewID=1046

This edgy, jumpy production at Belvoir is a near miss I am afraid .There are some very good performances (a stellar one by Shelly Lauman as Chris) and the production values are excellent - I was particularly impressed by Alice Babidge's black, reflective, futuristic pool side set , like a titling spaceship. And Oren Ambarchi's throbbing electronic score is gripping and highlights the building of tension- however it just doesn't quite work.

Benedict Andrews as a director is magnificent. He has taken some of the classics and brilliantly reworked them to extraordinary effect (eg Belvoir's 'The Seagull', ‘Measure for Measure’, ‘Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf ' and for the Sydney Theatre Company 'The Wars of the Roses' and 'Season at Sarsparilla' for example .But as a playwright - this is his debut play - sorry , but this needs more work.

Andrew's strange, perturbing play tells the story of a wealthy artistic family under threat - from what or who is never clearly defined - who have hired a security guard, Chris. He (she?) spends long hours by the pool, alert on surveillance. One by one each family member is hypnotically drawn to Chris. A dangerous almost fatal game of attraction, privilege and fantasy is played out in their cocooned world.

With its tale of twins and sexual ambiguity in the character of Chris it is almost Shakespearean (well, sort of…). There are also references to Greek mythology and astronomy. The family, apart from the patriarch Leo, could possibly be viewed as archetypes: elegant , beautiful Lydia ( Angie Milliken ) is presented as the lonely , betrayed , waiting wife.

Then there are the disturbed twins - Olivia (Eloise Mignon) - seemingly sweetly pretty and innocent but already corrupted and hungry for more sexual experimentation , and Oliver , a tousled, looking somewhat Harry Potter like Dylan Young, who is simply wants love and affection . At one point Olivia and Oliver sing a song sort of in the style of 1930's musicals that is charming but does not develop the story in any way and holds the play up. The twins closeness is eerie ( Olivia describes it as 'a living , breathing mirror beside you' and Oliver calls both his mother and sister sluts and informs Chris that he wasn't Olivia's first or only sexual partner.

Chris is portrayed as having a major effect on all of the family yet we see how Chris is in fact exploited by them, manipulating him (her?) as an expression of their own needs and desires.

Philosophical, lumbering Leo (John Howard) is a successful novelist/playwright who regards himself as a victim of the crushing expectation his fame has created. One of the plays themes is the creative process and the effect that this has on the self. Leo has some fascinating monologues on the difficulties of his inner character being defined by his writing and the need to keep his creativity fresh - with a sideline about the Mobius strip.

There are plenty of short, snappy scenes with strobe blackouts.

Some people might be made uncomfortable by the violence, nudity, and explicit masturbation and sex scenes - and there are a lot of them.

At the end Chris fills us in as to what happened after the dramatic near fatal accident, but this leaves us unsatisfied. However we do see that (s)he has escaped from victim mode and the family's damaging influence. But is it really necessary for Lauman to completely strip, revealing the tight corset-like bodice she has been wearing for the rest of the play?

The cast struggle valiantly yet unhappily with this ungainly,confronting and challenging work . EVERY BREATH runs for 90 minutes without interval.

Benedict Andrews’s production of EVERY BREATH opened upstairs at Belvoir Street on Saturday 24th March and plays until Sunday April 30th, 2012.

Tags- Sydney Theatre Reviews- EVERY BREATH, Benedict Andrews, Sydney Arts Guide, Lynne Lancaster.