THEATRE – Terrestrial – State Theatre – The Space – 3.5K

Annabel Matheson (Liddy) Pat Jhanur (Badar) by Kate PardeyBy Peter Maddern

Two mid teen teenagers meet up in an isolated mining town in rural South Australia. Liddy (Annabel Matheson) is a blow in, from a broken home and stuck in this place for ten days only awaiting a reunion with her father. Badar (Patrick Jhanur) is from a rusted on towns family – the son of miners about to face a bleak future. Both yearn to be somewhere else but for the time being together is the best the place can offer them. Both also harbour fantasies – hers relates to aliens coming in and taking her away; his is to get inside her pants. Both Jhanur and Matheson do well to convey an age that is well behind them and their increasing mutual needs in a landscape without variation and aspiration.

Fleur Kilpatrick’s simple construction is greatly enhanced by Meg Wilson’s stage design and Chris Petrridis’s lighting which together make for quick scene changes, from day to night and from inside to the wild expanses of a sky fully moon lit in the desert. Nescha Jelk’s direction ensures her players also convey the claustrophobia of the town to limitless possibilities of being somewhere else even if via the agency of aliens.

This is entertaining fare for a teenage / school audience by a talented team.

Kryztoff Rating   3.5K

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