Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, Damien Millar’s The Modern International Dead is a brutal exploration of the stories of Australians in foreign war zones. Millar’s script won the WA Premier’s Literary Award Script Award in 2008; the play’s premiere production by the Griffin Theatre Company won the Sydney Theatre Award for Best New Work the same year. All proceeds from this current production, staged by independent Melbourne theatre company the Act-O-Matic 3000, go to the excellent Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.
Millar has combined multiple narratives into just three: a novitiate sister turned counsellor, a soldier turned landmine clearer, and a biochemist turned intelligence officer and WMD inspector. The witty script pulls zero punches, combines the three narratives in an intriguing way, and is neatly designed to be performed by only three actors, despite its wide cast of characters.
With that kind of pedigree, expectations are high for the Act-O-Matic 3000’s production, and while they had a really good old crack at it, it’s hard to say that the company quite hit the mark. Directed by David Passmore and performed by Nadia Tracy, Brett Whittingham and Dan Walls, there was the distinct feeling that a great script was half-trapped underneath confused direction, weirdly emphasised dialogue and some fairly excruciating accents.
Of the three performers, only Walls was consistently good in both his main role (as a fictionalised version of Australian intelligence expert and whistleblower Rod Barton) and in his many bit-part characters. As Luke, an intense, nervy and truly damaged Australian Army private, Whittington’s performance was powerful, but so far in character that there were a few clearly missed lines and stage directions; and while some of his bit-part characters were fantastic (most notably The Virgin Mary) others were betrayed by deeply silly accents. Tracy only managed to shine briefly in a momentary cameo as Iraq’s ‘Dr Germ’, Rihab Taha; for the rest of the work, her delivery veered from stilted to mildly cringeworthy – again, often under the yoke of unfortunate accents. Even her main role of novitiate sister Brigette, a counsellor undergoing a crisis of faith and engaged in an inappropriate relationship with her patient, largely failed to engage. And with a minimal set design meant to show off the performers, there isn’t much to hide an awkward performance.
Fortunately for the work, the subject material is sufficiently powerful that it could probably resonate even if read out by Stephen Hawking. The account of the Kibeho massacre in Rwanda – the play’s narrative climax – is a theatrical punch in the face, and well worth hearing about.
The play’s themes – the changes that war zone experiences and decisions have on a person, and the difficulty of returning to a ‘normal’ life in Australia – are a rich field for exploration, and The Modern International Dead manages to dig up some very memorable moments. Despite its occasional flaws, this production is worth seeing for Walls’ performance alone, and for its excellent insights into the reality of modern-day frontlines.
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Act-O-Matic 3000 present
The Modern International Dead
Written by Damien Millar
Directed by David Passmore
Lighting Design: Lindon Blakey
Audio Design: Craig Tracy
Set Design: Carmel Iudica
Performed by Nadia Tracy, Brett Whittingham and Dan Walls
Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Brunswick
14 – 24 November
