★★★★☆
Perfectly capturing nostalgia, the drama of adolescence and the passing clarity of dreams, Girl Asleep makes a triumphant return to the stage after its seamless transition to the screen.
Turning 15 is difficult enough, but thanks to the move to a new school and the meddling of her parents, Greta’s worst nightmares are swiftly coming to life. That is, until she falls asleep at the party she never wanted, and her dreams take full form.
Greta, played by Ellen Steele, does not look like a teenager. It seems an odd choice to have an adult play the gangly teen, despite Steele’s capability. But then, very little about Girl Asleep is intended to sit flush with expectation, dashing as it does between exaggerated reality and full-blown fantasy.
Superficially, the production nods to pop cultural touchstones like The Mighty Boosh, Wes Anderson and Napoleon Dynamite, but its truest corollary is Spike Jonze’s Where The Wild Things Are, with its particular bittersweet nostalgia. Windmill Theatre Co. has created a world of its own that seemed readymade for the screen, until you see how cleverly it operates live.
At the heart of the play is writer Matthew Whittet, appearing as Conrad, a “vision of 1970s beige” and the daggiest Aussie dad to ever grace the stage. How an adult man can so honestly and intuitively depict a teenage girl’s internal war is astonishing, and due credit must go to the superb direction of Rosemary Myers and her realisation of this peculiar waking dream.
Then there’s Amber McMahon, who simply has to walk on stage to elicit peals of laughter. Her comic timing is impeccable, and her various absurd characters (including a hilarious Finnish Greta) never fail to delight. Sheridan Harbridge channels a young Winona Ryder as sister Genevieve, and Dylan Young’s awkward lisping Elliott is as charming for the right reasons as his Serge Gainsbourg impression is not.
The Windmill ensemble treats designer Jonathon Oxlade’s fleur-de-lis papered set like the playground it is, drawing every comic and dramatic possibility from it while cheekily giggling at its absurdities.Wrapped in matching body suits, the crew members even manage to elicit a fright as they scurry through strobes to position the next outlandish set piece or costume.
Girl Asleep is deliriously funny, audacious, and, as it reaches its defining moments, surprisingly moving. And like Greta’s music box, this marvellous experience can be reopened and treasured all over again on film.
Photo:Lisa Tomasetti
Girl Asleepis playing at Belvoir St Theatreuntil Saturday December 24.
