REVIEW: How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found - Melbourne

Image:Tim Williamson. Helen Hopkins, David Passmore, Glen Hancox and Michael F Cahill  

In Australia, approximately 30,000 people are reported missing to the Police each year, with more than half of these people being young, often in their twenties or early thirties.

How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found follows the story of one such person: Charlie, a 29-year-old man so horrified by his life and the mistakes that he has made that he chooses to vanish, taking on a new name and identity, effectively fleeing his friends, colleagues, the police and government.

Trapped in a stereotype of a high-flying corporate world, Charlie does his best to survive, working so much that he sacrifices sleep, his social life, his moral scruples and ultimately his sanity.

Plagued by images of a future that may or may not happen, Charlie descends deeper and deeper into madness, confused about who he is and what his life holds.

When he makes the decision to change his identity, a further layer of complexity is added, as he struggles to discern what of himself is truly him, and what is his assumed persona, Adam.

How To Disappear Completely makes extensive use of a flexible time line, dream and flashback, with its story following Charlie through his experiences, both real and otherwise.

Coupled with the small cast of the show, this can occasionally make characters difficult to place (as actors are often called upon to portray more than one in short order), keeping the audience on their toes as they follow the shifting plot lines.

This is, in fact, the Australian premiere of How To Disappear Completely, and Hoy Polloy have outdone themselves to ensure that it is a fitting introduction to Fin Kennedy's work for Australian audiences.

Much work has gone into the stage design, being sparse and yet flexible, with only a few pieces of fixed set, used to good effect.

Paul King's direction ensures that the show is understandable and accessible to an Australian audience, while not making it so blatant as to become pedestrian - although with the highly stylised nature of Fin's writing, this is almost inconceivable.

Casting is similarly well thought out, with the pantheon of people in this young man's life being played by only five actors, each sporting a vast array of costumes, accents, body language and mannerisms to delineate between the different personalities.

This highly restricted casting does serve, however, to keep the focus on the main characters, Charlie and Sophie (the woman he meets in his dreams, played by Tory Rodd) as they are the only actors to consistently play one role throughout the whole show.

David Passmore's Charlie is strangely terrifying, simultaneously repulsive and eerily familiar to the audience.

David's sensitive and human portrayal of a man forced by circumstance to make a difficult decision was difficult at times to watch, as I was constantly reminded of elements of myself that might push me to the same shocking and ultimate decisions.

The final scenes are rather shocking, as we see Charlie laid bare, struggling to come to terms with the realities of himself and his life.

How To Disappear Completely and Never Be Found is a darkly funny exploration of what it really means to be a person in modern society.

With a small cast of highly skilled and accomplished performers, it asks the question - to be ourselves, what do we need? Are we a name?

Are we a number? Or are we simply what people think of us?

Venue: Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Corner Sydney & Glenlyon Roads, Brunswick
Dates: 23 May – 7 June 2008
Times: Tuesday to Saturday 8.15pm; Sundays 5.00pm
Tickets: $30 Adult, $20 Concession / Groups 10+, $18 Tuesdays
Bookings: 03 9016 3873 | hoypolloy@bigpond.com
Hoy Polloy Blog: hoypolloytheatre.blogspot.com