Engine

'Engine' a NORPA production  

Count how many crosses you see on the roadside on any four hour road trip and you will be gobsmacked by the tally on arrival at your destination. As a travelling family, we used to count red cars, or dogs, or number plates that begin with the letter “d” (or some other observance available from a car window). Now I can’t help noticing crosses – sometimes clusters of crosses: every one of these symbols has a story waiting to be told. Engine is a vehicle for just one of these stories. To say JUST one of these stories, in itself, is a tragedy.

Dealing with teenage death is never an easy subject. How do you portray teenage ‘rites of passage’ without sitting in judgement? Nagging, hostility, angst, frustration, empathy, sympathy, and sheer sorrow can cloud any family where teenagers emerge: mums and dads; grandparents and neighbours; well-wishers and concerned friends add to the milieu that makes up the sum of the whole – a community. When tragedy strikes, every single member will be en guard. Emotionally bruised people have to find a way back to a semblance of normality.

“How normal do you have to be before people stop hugging you?”

Playwright Janis Balodis is my hero. Director Julian Louis is a god. Together these two men (and the rest of the production team at NORPA) have created yet another masterpiece of theatre and the cast of two – yes, TWO – have left an indelible imprint on my psyche. The utilisation of the chorus of young people (local young performers cleverly selected from local schools) is a stroke of genius. Engine is a stroke of genius.

Bob Baines (Grumpop) and Melanie Zanetti (Natasha) lead us through this performance with seamless role changing, allowing the audience to live through the drama as scenes unfold: flashbacks and memories; futures entwining the past and how can we ever be the same again? Progressively unravelling, this story could have been anyone’s.

A story of loss; of questions unanswered; of tragedies that will keep occurring so better buckle-up and enjoy the ride, because who knows how long we will traverse this planet? Being young is a chore, bringing up the young is a challenge.

Fast paced, informative and family oriented, the two actors retrace the events of that fateful night when their worlds were ripped apart. Dealing with so many issues (self-harm, loneliness, guilt, admonishments, what-ifs, regret – you name it, it’s there) these TWO (did I mention two) actors bring us into the world of tragedy and the impact of situations out of anyone’s control. Life goes on …. well, doesn’t it?

Relationship building through a common goal – the building of an engine, is gradually revealed twice: in the first instance by flashbacks of grandfather and grandson, and then the passing of the baton to grandfather and granddaughter. Salient points are mooted: “better to have 120 hours on L plates than 120 nights crying”; “since you’re gone there are holes everywhere”; “empty shoes, empty spaces”; “I thought I’d feel you in here”; “it takes seven hours to learn to pull a beer and three seconds to smash”; “venting’s good”; I googled it” and so many other ‘pearlers’.

The crash-test dummy sequence is a riot, and a timely interjection to laugh and take another deep breath. Favourite quote: “You’re not as brain damaged as you look, Bob….”

This is a rollercoaster ride and an admirable performance by all.

To quote from the Playwright’s notes:

An engine is simply defined as a machine for transmitting motion. In this particular instance in the theatre, it is metaphorically a machine for transmitting emotion……

Instead of father and son, it became grandfather and granddaughter as the central characters and they were to play all the characters of the story. And the essential lubricant, the most challenging and innovative idea, was the inclusion of a high-school chorus to contextualise the drama and to reflect back to the community how tenuous life can be when the controlled power of an engine meets the freewheeling energy of the young.

To quote from the Director’s notes:

The juxtapositions of the events in the script heighten the family’s state of shock and despair – and present many challenges to the creative team to find innovative staging solutions. The text along with its beautiful, complex set of relationships, makes for a deep and ultimately entertaining theatre experience…..

What ‘Engine’ aims to do is reflect on the aftermath of a tragedy and how the human spirit seeks to survive it.

Another quality performance by NORPA (as part of their Generator program) can be seen on the following dates at the following venues:

Engine, a NORPA production

Written by Janis Balodis
Directed by Julian Louis

TOURING Lismore, Byron Bay, Coffs Harbour and Murwillumbah
Star Court Theatre, Lismore
Thursday 29 July – 10.30am and 8pm
Friday 30 July – 10.30am and 8pm
Saturday 31 July – 8pm

Murwillumbah Civic and Cultural Centre
Tuesday 10 August – 7.30pm
Wednesday 11 August – 10.30am

Byron Bay Community Centre
Friday 13 August – 10.30am
Saturday 14 August – 7.30pm

Jetty Theatre, Coffs Harbour
Friday 6 Aug 10.30am and 8.00pm
Saturday 7 Aug 8.00pm

A note on the Generator program:

NORPA’s creative development program generates high quality, innovative works of theatre for presentation and attracts high calibre artists from around Australia to work with NORPA. NORPA collaborates with local and invited artists thereby adding to the creative vibrancy of the region.

Within the program the company offers residencies for artists and companies to come and incubate their creative projects in NORPAS’ venues, creative development workshops and opportunities to co-present premiering works which benefit from final stage development and an ‘out of town try-out’. These enrich the program and build further connections between the region and invited artists.

Artistic Director Julian Louis has been heavily influenced by regional experiences in his own theatre-making practice and this is what drew him to work in Lismore. The environment, the limitations and the people create a different expectation upon theatre in some way, creating great opportunities for exchange when artists are enabled to make work in a regional context.

The key team responsible for delivering Generator are Julian Louis, writer/dramaturg Janis Baldis, Creative Producer Marisa Snow and General Manager Delia O’Hara.