Three Plays: quick links
If you’ve launched a theatre company and want to make a statement, you could do worse than tackle one of the 20th century’s most acclaimed playwrights. That’s what Sydney’s newest theatre production company, the Ground Floor Theatre Company, is doing with Three Plays.
Now playing the wonderfully characterful Old Fitz Theatre, Australia’s last remaining pub theatre, Three Plays comprises three one-act plays by Tennessee Williams, presented across 50 minutes: At Liberty, Auto-Da-Fé and This Property is Condemned.
Three Plays: the essence of Tennessee Williams
They’re astute choices. In less than an hour, director Megan Sampson and team manage to distil the essence of Tennessee Williams, exploring common themes in his work, such as desire, decay, sexual repression, isolation and the struggle for human connection.
This Williams ‘omnibus’ is played by three actors – Helena Cielak, Will Manton and Emma Wright – in performances ranging from solid to sensational.
At Liberty
It’s 2.30 in the morning at Blue Mountain, Missouri. Struggling young actress, Gloria (Helena Cielack) comes home after a big night out. Her mother (Emma Wright) is waiting up for her – like she does every night.
Despite her concern for her daughter, mother is not exactly a benign figure. She harshly needles Gloria over her health, her nights out, her flailing acting career and even a small tear in Gloria’s dress.
The young actress is determined to follow her dreams. Said dreams have been stoked by a recent magazine advert in which Gloria is promoted as an actress ‘at liberty’. Her mother is not impressed …
Three Plays: interesting theatrical morsel about hopes and dreams
This is an interesting theatrical morsel about hopes and dreams, and the effect when someone close to you doesn’t support those dreams.
It’s well-acted by both thespians, although Cielack might benefit from more coaching on her character’s accent from voice coach, Laura Farrell.
Auto-Da-Fé
This is the middle play of the three and is arguably the strongest, functioning as the production’s backbone.
Theatrically compelling, it’s set in New Orleans and concerns a moralistic young postman, Eloi (Will Manton). Eloi has intercepted a sexually suggestive letter – and a shocking photograph with it.
The letter and photo were sent by a 19-year-old university student to a local antique dealer. It’s not explicitly stated but it’s clear both sender and intended receiver are men.
When Eloi speaks to his mother (Emma Wright, playing a different maternal character) about it on her porch, we get hints that there’s more than shock there. Could there be excitement too?
Both mother and son are Christian fundamentalists. Judgment is the order of the day. An increasingly worked up Eloi talks of biblical fire and brimstone. He feels the whole city, mired in a both a literal and moralistic swamp, should be cleansed with fire.
His mother, meanwhile, believes the letter and photograph must be burned.
Fire is exactly what ensures – with gut-wrenching consequences.
Three Plays: gripping theatre
This is gripping theatre, played to perfection by both actors. Manton, especially, is astonishingly good. It would be no surprise to see this young actor reach the very top of his profession in the coming years, such is his range, projection and physicality.
Production designer Meg Anderson and lighting designer Topaz Marlay-Cole get to show their chops here, with a clever and effective portrayal of the play’s fire.
This Property is Condemned
A nebulous and faintly menacing work, this is the most mysterious of the three. Decay, isolation and abandonment are strong themes in this two-hander.
It revolves around Willie, an unkempt young girl (Helena Cielak again), playing on the railways tracks of a Mississippi town. There, she meets Tom (Will Manton, in the second of his two roles).
Willie, who lives in an abandoned boarding house, tells Tom about her life – particularly her deceased sister, Alva. The pair form a brief connection (friendship is too strong a word) which facilitates an exploration of poverty, the loss of innocence and broken families.
It’s a haunting work, which both actors play with impressive nuance. A refrain of ‘Wish Me a Rainbow’, sung at various points by Cielak, adds to the atmosphere; her voice is exceedingly mellifluous and plaintive.
There is a clever use of props here (for example, two ladders are transformed into railway tracks) while sound designer Meg Anderson does a stellar job evoking the trackside location.
Read: The War of the Worlds review: the radio adaptation in a new Perth venue
This poignant play presents a fitting conclusion to this trio of Tennessee Williams works, which is part of the Old Fitz’s Late Night program, in which plays are presented at 9pm Tuesday to Saturday, and 7.15pm on Sundays.
Three Plays will be performed at the Old Fitz Theatre, Woolloomooloo NSW until 15 August 2025.
