Picture stories with a twist

Every Story Tells a Picture
Plays by Maree Walk, Tom Hungerford and Peta Murray
The Studio, Subiaco Theatre Centre, Perth, until October 24
Reviewed by Jonathan Strauss

This Artrage Festival event involves three short plays by three different writers, working to the inspiration of a photo -- which must be reproduced live -- of the two actors who will perform the play. Conceived of and directed by Hellie Turner, the result is a potpourri of dramatic styles, each well written and well performed.

Dancing the Picture, by Maree Walk, is a fast, almost frenetic, opening to the night. A stylised but realistic narrative, with sometimes razor-sharp interplay between the characters, presents a story of a mother's and a child's responses to domestic violence.

Tom Hungerford's The Wrong Rabbit tackles the relationship between a mother and her child, adding a twist in the tail with conflict between them over racial and ethnic prejudices. The style is naturalistic, the mood melodic.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of the evening, however, is Peta Murray's dry, almost black, but ultimately comic The Reading. The absurd qualities of the situation presented turn one's mood first to gloom, then to glee.

Taking head on all the difficulties the project presented -- for the playwrights, the fine line between conformity and disparity, and for the actors, the trials of presenting several major characters in a single night -- gives the night a special quality. As Turner commented: “It's not just that you have three different plays, but you get a feeling for theatre today.”

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