★★★★☆
It’s been some time since A Property Of The Clan has graced a Sydney stage, but thanks to the efforts of Don’t Look Away and the brand new Blood Moon Theatre, this brutal, beautiful text is finding new contextual relevance and vitality under the guidance of an engrossing and muscular cast.
Ricko’s underage party is the talk of Blackrock Point, and every teenager in the area wants to be there. But when a young girl is raped and murdered on the beach, the entire community is left stunned, torn between those who want the truth and those who just want the whole damn mess to disappear.
The characters, divided between youngsters and adults, are woefully prepared to cope with the fallout of the party. They are played expertly by a cast of four who rotate roles as necessary, always bringing each new addition to the stage with clarity. Samantha Young’s shell-shocked Jade, Megan Drury’s long-suffering Diane, Jack Starkey-Gill’s extreme leaps between Glenn and Ricko, and George Banders’ powerful performance as Jared show an ensemble united in their purpose.
On paper, the set design concept has the potential to be underwhelming – a perspex sheet on which the actors paint – but it’s a device that is used to stunning effect. As bright primary colours bleed into darker shades, the sense of play with which the actors begin shifts into something far more sinister: the chronicling of a world-shaking horror. Credit, then, to Martelle Hunt and director Phil Rouse for bringing the concept to its full potential.
A Property Of The Clan is the second play in so many months to directly address one of the major issues facing our country – that of violence against women. Don’t Look Away has even taken the extra step of donating a cut of the profits to White Ribbon in order to translate the artistic expression into measurable social change.
It is truly awful that Nick Enright’s 1992 version of the play can still resonate so powerfully with modern Australia, but the text is extremely potent and even-handed in the way that it examines rape culture, and has clearly been approached with considerable thought and care.
Alternately funny and harrowing, bleak and redemptive, A Property Of The Clan is an excellent debut for the Blood Moon Theatre.
A Property Of The Clanis playing at Blood Moon Theatre until Saturday October 17.
