St Kilda Today: July 2005

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Red Stitch Actors Theatre

"The Country" by Martin Crimp (Click here for Royal Court review)
Laura Gordon is returning to Red Stitch to perform in Country by Martin Crimp, one of Britain's most respected contemporary playwrights. (The Melbourne Theatre Company staged another of his plays, Cruel and Tender, earlier this year).

She is pleased to be working on a play where the use of language is so critical. "It is Pinter-esque the way Crimp uses words to peel back the layers to reveal the fight going on underneath the surface of a middle-class marriage."

Gordon plays an American who arrives unexpectedly at a couple's country home, where they have recently moved from the city. The other actors are Verity Charlton and Dion Mills.

The rural retreat was supposed to have marked a fresh start in the marriage. But the play reveals that problems have not been resolved. "My character sees the word games for what they are and, although she enters into them, thinks they are ridiculous."

The play is directed by Denis Moore, who has just finished working with Max Gillies on the stage show, The Big Con. "It's terrific to come here after being involved in local productions and work on the best scripts from overseas," Moore says.

He is impressed with Crimp's dissection of a marriage, using a technique influenced by Beckett, Ionesco and Pinter. "Like the absurdist writers, he's questioning the ability of language to serve as a means of communication. Instead, it's used as a weapon. But at the same time, Crimp's writing is very musical in its rhythms."

Robin Usher, The Age, July 2005