“The show is a triumph with high production value, consummate performances and sensitive understating of the text that has made it transcend its original era and feed a modern day pallet.“
Vincent Andriano
4 /5 stars
Flow Studios (Camperdown, Sydney), while large, is a wonderfully intimate space for theatre and a perfect setting for The Company’s first staged production of ’Tis Pity She’s A Whore’. Though the title alone might be enough to pique anyone’s interest (it certainly did mine), this fascinating play is in fact a distressing tragedy about the cataclysmic dangers of misused lust, pride and piety. The tagline also describes it as “a tale of love, incest and murder”, and boy does this show deliver! So if you go in thinking that’s just some edgy marketing tool – NOPE!
One might argue that a current societal byproduct of the juggernaut that is HBO’s Game of Thrones is that narrative incest and murder are very “in” right now. Director/Producer Harry Reid was probably fairly aware that they’d be presenting to a potentially desensitised crowd, and successfully pushed the boundaries even further. It doesn’t take long to plunge into our main characters Giovanni and Annabella, who are brother and sister, flirting and professing their amorous desires for one another. This was played with such beautifully vulnerable authenticity by leads Bayley Prendergast and Olivia Hall-Smith (also a Producer) that we, watching it all unfold, were squirming in our seats thinking: “aaaaaaawwwwkkkkwwwaaard”. Then, just when you settle into the fact that you’re going to have to watch some live incest action, the unique depiction of them consummating their love is… even more confronting than you might expect. The two actors become carnally entangled all the while orally exchanging a raw egg yoke through sensual kissing. It’s something I’ve never seen before, it’s as alarming as it sounds, and it’s technically and thematically brilliant.
I don’t want to give away what other eye-openers the show has to offer, but if you enjoy theatrical bodily fluids like explosive vomit, sloppily gruesome killings and bladder releasing dance solos, ‘urine’ for a bloody good time! It must be said now that the fact that none of this felt gratuitous or contrived, but always as an artful extension of the scripts already jaw-dropping plot, is actually a huge testament to an incredibly talented director and company as a whole. The text itself is so compelling that you have to remind yourself: morally, this is wrong. Both Hall-Smith and Prendergast have such a command over their craft and the troubled characters they play that there were even a few tender moments between them when I thought: “Oh, why can’t these two crazy kids just work things out?!” Then I remembered: “… oh that’s right, they’re siblings.”
Overall the cast was very strong and honourable mentions must go to the others. There was the utterly watchable Claudia Shnier, who brought delightful humour and tortured gravitas as Putana, the trusty house servant. Isabella Williams was positively arresting as Hippolita, the vengeful, scorned woman, who’s effortless vulnerability and stage presence dominated her every scene. Maeliosa Stafford as The Friar was another boon to behold and (despite audience giggles where I don’t think there were meant to be any) his candlelit enrapturing description of a hellish rapture thrilled and terrified us all about the “leprosy of lust that fills thy soul”. Martin Portus as the status-climbing Florio, father of the two related lovers, was consistently strong, although it was his final moments on stage that was some of the most harrowingly skilled acting I’ve ever seen. And Will Manton’s rendition of Grimaldi talking to a puppet (also played by Manton), while brief, was fabulous and made quite a lasting impression.
But the whole ensemble was great and had glorious chemistry that exuded a type of trust-among-players, which surely would have flowered from having all studied acting together. This was most evident in their careful and exemplary mastery of the script’s antiquated dialogue. Writer John Ford’s 16th century script incorporates thy’s, thou’s and poetic prose, and was frequently compared to Shakespeare that evening. And just like the Bard’s plays, when properly comprehend and executed well audiences have no trouble getting absolutely swept away and sucked into the tale – this production was no exception. The narrative is loaded with age-old struggles like “crimes” of passion and their fatal consequences, familial obligations and religious adherence, but it was the sharp intellect of The Company to narrow in on the timelessness of the concepts pointing out how relevant they still are to today’s socio-political climate. Most notably the all-too- topical nature of a woman’s responsibility after the lustful acts of sex have been spent, and how they become chess pieces in men’s rather inhumane game for power, money and reputation.
The show is a triumph with high production value, consummate performances and sensitive understating of the text that has made it transcend its original era and feed a modern day pallet. ’Tis Pity She’s A Whore’ is playing at Flow Studios from 2nd-13th November.
I look forward to seeing what else The Company has to offer! 4/5 stars.
Vincent Andriano, Theatre Now
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