An Oak Tree
An Oak Tree by Tim Couch, Downstairs Belvoir St, July 16-August 10, 2008; director Tanya Goldberg, designer Xanthe Heubel, lighting design Verity Hampson, sound design Michael Toisuta, produced by Katherine Armstrong-Smith. Cast: John Leary and A.N. Other.
THERE is nothing new under the sun, apparently, but sometimes you get a flash of just that. An Oak Tree is one of those flashes. It’s nothing like you’ve ever seen before and is impossible to describe without spoiling everything in it that will have you riveted to your seat, palms sweating.
An Oak Tree is a two-hander with a twist: only one of the actors has seen the script and knows what is going to happen. The other actor – each night a different one and unknown to the audience until the show begins – is almost totally in the dark. Having agreed to do it, they turn up an hour before, get a routine introduction to the evening and then they’re on.
The situations and scripts are revealed to that actor and the audience simultaneously, bit by bit. It would be foolish to think the audience is as nervous as the actor, but it’s not far off the truth. It makes you realise, all over again, that part of the deal in conventional theatre is that we expect everyone on stage to know what they’re doing and why they’re there. If one participant is in the same boat as us, it’s unnerving and exciting; weird and unsettling.
The story or stories may or may not be true or part of the illusion; and the actor may or may not know he or she is part of the illusion. It’s difficult to tell and the ground keeps shifting. There are synopses of the storyline around (the piece was devised by an Englishman, was staged in London and New York) but it would be better to avoid them as they’re as misleading as third hand gossip. It’s also more interesting to walk in unprepared and be part of the unfolding drama.
On opening night the surprise player was Leah Purcell. She is deservedly known as one of Australia’s finest actresses and she reconfirmed that status with a performance at once gentle, knowing, powerful and heartwrenching. She is also a joker too and this makes her inevitable complicity with the audience very affecting.
Whomever you get on your night, be sure of one thing: you won’t have a clue what to expect and all your expectations will be confounded anyway.
The actor taking on the second role each night may be any one of these: Wayne Blair, Patrick Brammal, Brendan Cowell, Joel Edgerton, Eden Falk, John Gaden, Genevieve Hegney, Claudia Karvan, Amy Kersey, Steve Le Marquand, Chas Licciardello, Lech Mackiewicz, Deborah Mailman, Belinda McClory, Robin McLeavy, Amber McMahon, Pacharo Mzembe, Bojana Novakovic, Leah Purcell, Richard Roxburgh, Jeremy Sims, Jacki Weaver and Ursula Yovich.
