Kylie Coolwell’s debut takes place in the James Cook building, in Redfern’s walk-ups, where the playwright has lived for the past six years. It’s a domestic drama set in a single apartment, though it feels more expansive than that.
Renée Mulder’s set is crosshatched; interior and exterior at the same time, and encompasses a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and exterior balconies. The strip of grass outside the apartment block, from which characters habitually shout up to the balconies, begging to be let in, is located counter-intuitively above the central apartment onstage, but the geography of where people are is always clear. Sarah Goodes also played with levels and offstage space in Switzerland last year at the Opera House. Battle Of Waterloo is a much less chilly affair. Inspired by the intimate epics of Tennessee Williams, Coolwell’s portrait of filial ties is less acidic. Where Williams wrote about families destroyed from within, Coolwell’s bunch are combustible but essentially loving – the danger is without.
Luke Carroll stars as Ray, who returns to Redfern after years in jail. His old girlfriend Cassie (Shari Sebbens) and her Aunt Mavis (Roxanne McDonald) are living together peaceably while Cassie completes a degree in fashion design. Cassie’s volatile, substance-abusing sister Sissy (Shareena Clanton) drops in regularly, as does Jack, a young relly who’s adopted the flat as his own rather than go home to his alternately absent or uninterested mother.
Into this relative tranquillity come Ray and his sinewy cousin Leon (a very fine Guy Simon), who charm their way into the household despite both women knowing full well that they’d be better off without men around to muck things up.
Battle Of Waterloo comes off as simply matter-of-fact rather than strident polemic, but its implications are explicit. Ray brings laughs and genuine affection with him but is undone by a lack of employment and the demon drink, and Coolwell suggests frankly that Cassie ends up both bereft and unburdened simultaneously.
3.5/5 stars
Battle Of Waterloo is playing at Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company until Saturday June 27.
