There are young people involved, but it’s not children’s theatre. There are cameras, but it’s not a Kip Williams extravaganza. There’s improvisation, but it’s definitely not theatre sports. Instead, POV is a terrific piece of theatre that combines elements of all the above to offer something unique, powerful and really rather special.
Produced by re:group performance collective, written by Mark Rogers and directed by Solomon Thomas, POV comprises one director/performer youngster (described as ‘Bub’), mostly training a camera on two totally unrehearsed adult actors, and gently giving them instructions about what to do, where to stand and what to say.
It needs to be stressed from the outset that, however this may sound, what you absolutely are not getting are the kind of Thank God You’re Here shenanigans where all bets are off and, hopefully, hilarity ensues. The adult actors – on opening night Bert La Bonté and Geraldine Hakewill (introduced simply as Bert and Gerry) – may be unrehearsed, but the rest of the show is very tightly scripted, to the extent that the child actor (‘I’m playing 11, but I’m actually 14’) has a chaperone to the side of the stage to ensure that, following the strict rules of engagement concerning young performers, they have a six-minute break at one point in the show.
It also needs to be noted that, actually, hilarity does ensue here too, but what’s so strong about this show is that there is so much more. Beneath the gimmick of the concept and the guffaw-inducing ‘seat of the pants’ work from the adults, there is a deeply serious theme, which is brilliantly and subtly introduced, and then navigated as through the POV of a child with a parent who has a mental illness. Hence the title.
At one point, ‘Dad’ reads out the project description that was sent to both of the adult actors before they signed up, which makes it clear exactly how much information they had. With this in mind, it’s clear that both La Bonté and, especially, Hakewill (who needs to dig a whole lot deeper into her acting skills) are not only game performers, on their toes and ready for anything, but highly intuitive, sensitive and talented to boot.
While Bub, with Mabelle Rose and Edith Whitehead alternating between shows, is not required to emote at all – a wise decision. The young actors have quite enough on their plate remembering all the staging and sequences. An additional, Margaret O’Brien ‘would you like me to cry out of my left eye or my right?’ approach would have taken the show into a whole different and much less impactful direction.
As it is, POV is exactly the kind of production festivals are built for – innovative, provocative and often quietly devastating. Bravo.
POV, Showroom Arts Centre Melbourne
Creative Team: Mark Rogers, Solomon Thomas, Malcolm Whittaker, Steve Wilson-Alexander, Carly Young
Writer: Mark Rogers
Director: Solomon Thomas
Performers: Mabelle Rose, Edith Whitehead
Unrehearsed Adult Actors: Bron Batten, Mish Grigor, Geraldine Hakewill, Emma Harvie, Bert La Bonté, John Leary, Louisa Mignone, Sophie Ross, Steve Mouzakis, Ras-Samuel, Corey Saylor-Brunskill, Katherine Tonkin, Mark Leonard Winter, Izabella Yena
Sound Designer: Ashley Bundang
Chaperone: Daniel Bailen
Stage Manager: Jemma Sproul
Creative Producer: Malcolm Whittaker
Administration: Intimate Spectacle
POV will be performed until 8 June at the Showroom Arts Centre Melbourne as part of RISING, followed by Heartland Festival/National Theatre of Parramatta (2-5 July) and Bondi Festival (10-12 July).
