Between Us plays at ATYP from February 4-21
2015. By the 2014 National Studio Writers and the 2014 ATYP Writer in
Residence, directed by Sarah Parsons.
The Voices Project,
for those not in the know, is a great initiative that ATYP put on every year.
Some of the country's best young playwrights go away together for a week,
tasked with writing a monologue for a young actor. Ten of the best pieces then
form ATYP's first show of the year.
I love this
project. I've seen it for for a few years now, and it's been so exciting to see
the level of work produced. Sadly, I don't think Between Us, this year's showcase, quite lives up to the standard of
previous years. There's some good work, and certainly that work that has
potential, but I didn't leave wowed, as I have before.
The theme this year
was “secrets”, and I wonder if this might have something to do with it. While
the ten pieces presented definitely had distinct authorial voices, there was
nevertheless a sort of sameness across them beyond thematic consistency. I
think this might be because secrets are necessarily linked with confession –
particularly when the art form being used is the monologue, which abets this
confessional tone. Every piece was, in essence, a confession. While there's
nothing wrong with this, it feels repetitive ten times in a row.
Between Us was staged in promenade – that is, the audience was active, following
the actors around the space. Ultimately, I think this was a good choice,
because it functioned to break up the showcase's repetitive confessions a
little (even though as a lady of very little height, I generally dislike
promenade theatre as I invariably get stuck behind someone super tall). While
some of the actors pushed their performances a bit too hard, verging on
overacting at times, overall, director Sarah Parsons did a fine job with the
material.
This might not be
the best ever instalment of the Voices Project, but there's definitely some
potential in Between Us. It's a
worthy project which supports and develops young artists, and I will always be
excited to watch them grow.
