“HIR is challenging, dark and provocative. And current. You up for it?”
Kate Stratford
4 Stars
Venue: New Theatre
Sydney
Dates: Until August 2nd
Taylor Mac’s HIR first made its way onto the stage in 2014 and the intelligent, heartfelt, and darkly humorous portrayal of a family in crisis became a hit. It is a play in which domestic abuse, the trauma of war, and the acceptance of gender neutrality are illustrated in a nearly absurd, emotionally gripping, intensely real dynamic.
What is interesting in the 2025 New Theatre production is director Patrick Howard’s shaping to accommodate newer societal attitudes and concerns. Ten years ago, the focus was more on Issac’s story. Isaac (Luke Visentin), traumatised by the Afghanistan war, returns to a home in complete mess. He’s shocked to find his formerly dictatorial and abusive father Arnold (Rowan Greaves) as a drooling, drugged out mess with clown makeup; his younger sister Max (Lola Kate Carlton) is now his younger brother Ze; and his mother Paige (Jodine Muir) is celebrating her new found freedom in the ruins of a house that looks like it was hit by multiple natural disasters.
Though Isaac protests at the state of their home, Paige refuses to cede control back to a patriarchal figure. And so ensues a struggle for dominance of The Home. And this is the shift. In the current political climate, the disintegration of the American dream is even more pronounced and the increasing rejection by women of care roles (“the only thing I care about is not caring”) dominates social media. This production leans much more into current social politics, raising awareness of just how quickly the social mood is changing. In 2014, soldier PTSD may have been a central concern. It seems to be less so now with all eyes focused on what appears to be the collapse of America and the surge of anti-women sentiment on social media, where algorithms can amplify misogynistic content that frame feminism as a threat to traditional gender roles.
The chaos and destruction in the set (Victor Kalka) is now a reflection of the implosion of America, more than a manifestation of Paige’s new attitude. Xan Hardman’s costumes (particularly Paige’s) bring humour to this dark kitchen-sink dramedy.
The vision hits its stride in the second half. Visentin hits the home run in Act 2. His (and Howard’s) choice of Issac’s emotional collapse as opposed to continuing anger serves the notion of a 2025 production even more. Muir’s refusal to capitulate and chilling lack of compassion become tools of survival for her character and instead of alienating the audience, become more than understandable. At least, if you are a woman of a certain age! Any sympathy you may have felt for Arnold is eroded by Greave’s infusion of glee as his character attempts to claw back patriarchal power and Carlton delivers an adolescent obsessed with identity and immune to chaos unfolding. Gender identity is less of a concern in a world of genocides and collapsing economies.
HIR was done not so long ago in Sydney so why re-visit? Because Patrick Howard has delivered a version which takes into account the rapid shifts in current world issues and attitudes. A little lesson how important is a director’s vision and decisions made by casts.
HIR is challenging, dark and provocative. And current. You up for it?
photos by Chris Lundie
Kate Stratford, Theatre Now
