“… stories that are at once deeply personal and universally relevant …”
Fiona Hallenan-Barker
[4] Stars
Venue: Sydney Festival at the Sydney Opera House
Sydney
Dates: 8th – 12th January
Back to Back Theatre’s latest work, Multiple Bad Things, asks multiple big questions about reality, artifice, inclusion and identity. Opening with a mesmerizingly slow hand gesture and a trigger warning speech from actor Simon Laherty stating that “theatre is not real” the performance sets itself up to be challenging and entertaining. We are in for a night of exploration on the existential nature of life and the ways in which theatre can express them.
Back to Back Theatre recently became the first Australian theatre company to win the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre at the Venice Biennale. Two years ago they were also awarded the International Ibsen Award (sometimes referred to as the Nobel Prize for theatre). These accolades underscore the company’s international standing and exceptional devising work. Back to Back are known to create powerful, boundary-pushing theatre showcasing an ensemble of actors who identify as having an intellectual disability or as neurodivergent.
At its core, Multiple Bad Things achieves this aim. Inviting audiences to examine their own ideologies, the collective frustrations of modern existence, and the fractured narratives of those living with varying degrees of privilege and oppression. The show is built on juxtapositions: the everyday against the monumental, the physical against the intellectual, the humorous against the tragic. This creates a tension that runs throughout the performance, keeping the audience engaged and demanding introspection.
The production doesn’t shy away from existential questions around the time, place, body and brain we are born with. Multiple Bad Things delves into the uncomfortable but inevitable philosophical pondering of what we do with the lives we are given. These questions linger after the performance has ended, and the vivid visual vignettes, from the jarring to the poignant, continue to reverberate.
Artistic Director Bruce Gladwin has handed the directorial reins to directors Tamara Searle and Ingrid Voorendt. This is the first time in Gladwin’s tenure that he hasn’t sat in the director’s chair. Searle and Voorendt have a strong aesthetic, one that complements and continues the legacy of Gladwin’s vision while bringing fresh energy to the company’s work.
Humour is a powerful tool throughout Multiple Bad Things, balancing the dark and the absurd with moments of sharp wit. A standout exchange occurs when performer Scott Price talks about making the most of his life as he completely ignores his surroundings, sitting on a giant pink inflatable flamingo playing on a mobile phone. It’s a brilliant moment that encapsulates the play’s ability to dislocate the action into a weirdly recognisable dystopian workplace.
One of the standout scenes comes from Sarah Mainwaring’s brilliant response to a recording of a call centre helpline when seeking support. The helpline voiceover is delivered by Rachel Griffiths with a perfect balance of disdain and sincerity. The protracted scene tips into absurdism as a scathing commentary on the insincere interactions that wear down day to day life with hollow platitudes.
The set and costume design by Anna Cordingley is exceptional. An audible “oooh” was heard by audience members entering the Drama Theatre facing the stage with a surreal clouded orb dominating the space. Functional and evocative the screen looks down upon the actors toiling away at building golden scaffolding whilst talking about all of the bad things that come to mind. The clearly defined work space is framed by an enormous pink inflatable flamingo on one side of the space and a desk with computer solitaire waiting to be played on the other. The large cage at the centre of the stage becomes a tool of work and a symbol of conflict, a space where the tensions between the characters—oppressors and oppressed, it seems—play out in intimate and awkwardly tense ways.
Inspired by the painting Australian Scapegoat by Australian artist Arthur Boyd, Cordingley’s costumes are likewise abstract and functional, reflecting the artwork and conjuring up an otherworldly atmosphere. The ominous soundscape by composer and sound designer Zoë Barry is assembled from collected field recordings; mobile phone noises, mechanical clunks, whistling winds, deep bass, and ominous subsonic rumbles. This auditory landscape feels both foreign and disturbingly familiar, it amplifies the sense of discomfort that permeates the world reflecting the anxiety and isolation of our times.
Each performer brings their own distinctive energy to the stage and is given time to shine individually within the ensemble work. Every moment of tension is marked by gestures that transcend simple movement, becoming a physical language unto itself. The stage is constructed in a way that exposes the levels of difficulty for each character. The round cage has a structural reveal at the end of the production which is both epic and mundane.
As the performance ends, the cynicism of Devo’s song “Beautiful World” cuts through the air, launching us out into the sparkling Sydney harbour evening. The lyrics carry a bitter weight: a beautiful world for who? Not the characters trapped in endless toil in Multiple Bad Things, who struggle against a world that offers little respite. The show leaves us with a sharp, unresolved tension, questioning oppression, identify and power.
Ultimately, Multiple Bad Things is an exploration of the complexity of human experience, beautifully staged and executed by Back to Back Theatre. The company continues to prove itself as a master of telling stories that are at once deeply personal and universally relevant, offering a space for considering a world increasingly divided by ideology and circumstance. And for those lucky enough to witness Multiple Bad Things, it is a beautiful world indeed—just not for everyone.
4 long hard stares
Finoa Hallenan-Barker, Theatre Now
