Copyright © 2009 by Accidental Productions · Privacy and Disclaimer ·
contemporary theatre for a contemporary audience
That’s Showbiz for July 10th-16th 2011.
I’m delighted to report that a new theatrical star has been born. Young Singaporean actress Samantha Soh gives a wonderfully heart warming performance as a visually impaired dancer in Accidental Theatre Company’s “Innocence” (Bakehouse Theatre, Angas Street) that is certain to kick-off a huge career. That’s not to say that other cast members, are overshadowed in Director Joh Hartog’s fine production. Here, Hartog is back to his best, returning to his favourite theme of characters re-appearing in later scenes in slightly different, interlocking guises.
This is a more evenly written play than Accidental’s last production, allowing room for contemplation of doubt, guilt and life’s available options, as characters seek meaning and intention.Bridget Walters, Ann Portus and Anna Linarello expertly lead recent Flinders graduates through the minefield, aided by superb technical production. It’s a faultless effort, thankfully, of a new work, something increasing rare in Adelaide theatre these days. Bravo Bakehouse and Accidental ! Until July 16th.
John Ovenden is a former ABCTV and BBC World Service arts presenter-journalist.
I’m delighted to report that a new theatrical star has been born. Young Singaporean actress Samantha Soh gives a wonderfully heart warming performance as a visually impaired dancer in Accidental Theatre Company’s “Innocence” (Bakehouse Theatre, Angas Street) that is certain to kick-off a huge career. That’s not to say that other cast members, are overshadowed in Director Joh Hartog’s fine production. Here, Hartog is back to his best, returning to his favourite theme of characters re-appearing in later scenes in slightly different, interlocking guises.
This is a more evenly written play than Accidental’s last production, allowing room for contemplation of doubt, guilt and life’s available options, as characters seek meaning and intention.Bridget Walters, Ann Portus and Anna Linarello expertly lead recent Flinders graduates through the minefield, aided by superb technical production. It’s a faultless effort, thankfully, of a new work, something increasing rare in Adelaide theatre these days. Bravo Bakehouse and Accidental ! Until July 16th.
John Ovenden is a former ABCTV and BBC World Service arts presenter-journalist.
RAW: Innocence - Accidental Productions
When two iterant workers, Fadoul (Jesse Butler) and Elisio (Nic Krieg) witness the drowning of young girl, one holding the other back from attempting a rescue, Innocence starts us off on the expose of half a dozen groupings - family, friends, lovers - as they grapple with dispossession and purpose in life when confronted with an array of challenges.
Innocence by Dea Loher is a remarkable play and a challenge for both the players as well as the audience. Has the western world really lost its moral compass, is the future only possessed by desires to go back to earlier, better days?
With 10 actors, it would be normal to expect a few laggards in the performance stakes but not here in Accidental Productions working of Bavarian Loher’s acclaimed work, directed with dedication and dimension by Joh Hartog.
Most have demanded of them at various moments difficult soliloquies and all deliver in style with the aforementioned Jesse Butler’s on God one of the best but repeated ones of depth and despair by Anna Linarello as Ella, the lonely wife of an artisan, also noteworthy.
Samantha Soh’s casting as the blind, lonesome but not lonely Absolute (in all white) was inspired and she gave a truly believable and moving performance.
While laced with moments that are harsh, sweet, funny, cruel, dark and light, Innocence is probably best enjoyed by committed theatregoers who will respond with enthusiasm to the play and the players’ performances. Another fine performance by this crew and production team.
Kryztoff
When two iterant workers, Fadoul (Jesse Butler) and Elisio (Nic Krieg) witness the drowning of young girl, one holding the other back from attempting a rescue, Innocence starts us off on the expose of half a dozen groupings - family, friends, lovers - as they grapple with dispossession and purpose in life when confronted with an array of challenges.
Innocence by Dea Loher is a remarkable play and a challenge for both the players as well as the audience. Has the western world really lost its moral compass, is the future only possessed by desires to go back to earlier, better days?
With 10 actors, it would be normal to expect a few laggards in the performance stakes but not here in Accidental Productions working of Bavarian Loher’s acclaimed work, directed with dedication and dimension by Joh Hartog.
Most have demanded of them at various moments difficult soliloquies and all deliver in style with the aforementioned Jesse Butler’s on God one of the best but repeated ones of depth and despair by Anna Linarello as Ella, the lonely wife of an artisan, also noteworthy.
Samantha Soh’s casting as the blind, lonesome but not lonely Absolute (in all white) was inspired and she gave a truly believable and moving performance.
While laced with moments that are harsh, sweet, funny, cruel, dark and light, Innocence is probably best enjoyed by committed theatregoers who will respond with enthusiasm to the play and the players’ performances. Another fine performance by this crew and production team.
Kryztoff
Stage Whispers
Innocence By Dea Loher. Accidental Productions (SA). The Bakehouse Theatre. Director: Joh Hartog. Set & Costume Design: Casey van Sebille. July 1 - 16, 2011.
Innocence takes its audience on a journey similar to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: a dystopic, amoral world that nonetheless inspires hope.
In his director’s note, Joh Hartog writes that “just like a really good piece of music, [Innocence] cannot be caught by a short description in the program.”
Nonetheless, us reviewers attempt just that: Innocence brings together a collection of outrageously idiosyncratic characters, draws blood from them, and then lets them at each other like sharks in a frenzy.
Piece by piece, links form between the characters; some obvious, many subtle, such as Ella (Anna Linarello) having authored the book that Absolute (Samantha Soh) is reading.
On the subject of writing, Dea Loher’s script is usually masterfully wrought, but sometimes has gaping novice-level holes. Case in point: during the first two scenes, the characters flag when they’re switching to interior monologues, but for the rest of the play this convention is abandoned, sometimes confusingly.
Despite this, the A-league cast deliver brilliant, bold performances. First among these is Ann Portus as the chronically inappropriate Frau Habersatt.
Fadoul (Jesse Butler) and Absolute (Samantha Soh) share a dramatic dynanism, and Frau Zucker (Bridget Walters) provides emotional pacing with her comedic relief.
While the play borders on falling under the “experimental” label, the cast succeed in making it accessible to any adult.
Daniel G Taylor - Stage Whispers
Innocence By Dea Loher. Accidental Productions (SA). The Bakehouse Theatre. Director: Joh Hartog. Set & Costume Design: Casey van Sebille. July 1 - 16, 2011.
Innocence takes its audience on a journey similar to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: a dystopic, amoral world that nonetheless inspires hope.
In his director’s note, Joh Hartog writes that “just like a really good piece of music, [Innocence] cannot be caught by a short description in the program.”
Nonetheless, us reviewers attempt just that: Innocence brings together a collection of outrageously idiosyncratic characters, draws blood from them, and then lets them at each other like sharks in a frenzy.
Piece by piece, links form between the characters; some obvious, many subtle, such as Ella (Anna Linarello) having authored the book that Absolute (Samantha Soh) is reading.
On the subject of writing, Dea Loher’s script is usually masterfully wrought, but sometimes has gaping novice-level holes. Case in point: during the first two scenes, the characters flag when they’re switching to interior monologues, but for the rest of the play this convention is abandoned, sometimes confusingly.
Despite this, the A-league cast deliver brilliant, bold performances. First among these is Ann Portus as the chronically inappropriate Frau Habersatt.
Fadoul (Jesse Butler) and Absolute (Samantha Soh) share a dramatic dynanism, and Frau Zucker (Bridget Walters) provides emotional pacing with her comedic relief.
While the play borders on falling under the “experimental” label, the cast succeed in making it accessible to any adult.
Daniel G Taylor - Stage Whispers
GLAM Adelaide
Berlin based multi-award winning writer Dea Loher's play is a series of short scenes, each with just a couple of members of the large cast, showing facets of related concepts. The English translation is by David Tushingham.
There is a great deal of Brecht's approach to theatre in this production, with actors explaining there own and other's thoughts and actions, actors talking directly to the audience, and distancing themselves to emphasise the message.
Two illegal immigrants, Fadoul and Elisio, see a woman undress and walk into the ocean. They spend so long arguing the pros and cons of saving her life, but risking being caught by so doing, that she drowns. Fadoul finds a bag full of money and Elisio agonises over their failure to save the woman.
Frau Habersatt (Mrs. Hadenough in some English translations) intrudes on a man and woman whose daughter has been murdered, apologising on behalf of her son who killed her, but she actually has no children and no connection at all to the accused.
Frau Zucker (Mrs. Sugar in some English translations) moves in with her daughter Rosa and son-in-law Franz, her diabetes slowly eating away at her foot. She dreams of owning a petrol station and having a cigarette. Franz has given up medicine to be an undertaker's assistant, and brings home the remains of anybody who is unclaimed. Rosa wants a baby but, with her mother lying next to them in their one room, that seems out of the question.
Ella, an academic who has burned all but one of her books, The Unreliable World, talks incessantly about her theories at her silent husband, Helmut, who focusses on making jewellery and completely ignores her, even when she hits him to try to get his attention.
Two men meet at a party on the thirteenth floor of a building, talk briefly, then commit suicide by jumping. Absolute is a blind pole dancer in a strip club, isolated from everybody. She becomes involved with Fadoul and he offers to pay for an operation to restore her sight with the money that he found.
These apparently unrelated stories of people on the fringes of society, living on the edge, all run parallel to one another exploring a range of themes. They add up to an intriguing exploration of modern urban living.
Director, Joh Hartog, has assembled a very good cast, with a mix of emerging artists, graduates of either Flinders University or AC Arts, and some seasoned professionals. His acute direction has resulted in a tightly woven set of tales that complement each other well and add to build a powerful picture of the fragmented nature of modern life, where many of us now do not even know our next door neighbours.
What does one say about Bridget Walters that has not been said before? Frau Zucker is yet another of her captivating performances, filled with light and shade, balancing the humour and the pathos, convincingly portraying this complex woman and creating rich relationships with the other actors with whom she interacts.
As Frau Habersatt, Ann Portus also offers a strong performance, outwardly exhibiting every sign of being a quiet, dowdy, ordinary woman, suffering from her knowledge of the crimes committed by her son, yet she is strangely manipulative, giving a subtle indication of mental instability.
Then there is Anna Linarello, as Ella, with a very fine performance as a bitter, totally obsessed woman, frustrated and angered by her inability to engage in any form of communication with her husband, crossing the line to physical violence in her desperation for contact. She gives great depth to her character.
Bob Brady and Tim Smith provide some thoughtful performances as the two suicidal men, and Jesse Butler and Nic Krieg, as Fadoul and Eilisio, give some well rounded performances, their characterisations showing that they have been thrown together by circumstance and that they have little in common beyond their status as illegal immigrants.
Amy Victoria Brooks, as Rosa, and Hjálmar Svenna, as Franz, create very believable characters that supposedly have their marriage and the hope of children in common, yet signal in so many ways, spoken and unspoken, that they both have very different approaches to their lives and markedly diverse goals. They tend to suggest that having Frau Zucker preventing them from pursuing their life together is actually a blessing.
Newcomer, Samantha Soh, is a real find, offering a superbly sensitive performance as the blind dancer, Absolute. Keep an eye on her career as she is going places.
Casey van Sebille's set and Stephen Dean's lighting combine to provide a space that suggests many locations without accurately defining any of them, adding to the feeling of dislocation embedded in this production.
Accidental Productions have a challenging and rewarding performance on their hands that is likely to sell out, so do not wait too long to get your tickets.
Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor, Glam Adelaide.
Berlin based multi-award winning writer Dea Loher's play is a series of short scenes, each with just a couple of members of the large cast, showing facets of related concepts. The English translation is by David Tushingham.
There is a great deal of Brecht's approach to theatre in this production, with actors explaining there own and other's thoughts and actions, actors talking directly to the audience, and distancing themselves to emphasise the message.
Two illegal immigrants, Fadoul and Elisio, see a woman undress and walk into the ocean. They spend so long arguing the pros and cons of saving her life, but risking being caught by so doing, that she drowns. Fadoul finds a bag full of money and Elisio agonises over their failure to save the woman.
Frau Habersatt (Mrs. Hadenough in some English translations) intrudes on a man and woman whose daughter has been murdered, apologising on behalf of her son who killed her, but she actually has no children and no connection at all to the accused.
Frau Zucker (Mrs. Sugar in some English translations) moves in with her daughter Rosa and son-in-law Franz, her diabetes slowly eating away at her foot. She dreams of owning a petrol station and having a cigarette. Franz has given up medicine to be an undertaker's assistant, and brings home the remains of anybody who is unclaimed. Rosa wants a baby but, with her mother lying next to them in their one room, that seems out of the question.
Ella, an academic who has burned all but one of her books, The Unreliable World, talks incessantly about her theories at her silent husband, Helmut, who focusses on making jewellery and completely ignores her, even when she hits him to try to get his attention.
Two men meet at a party on the thirteenth floor of a building, talk briefly, then commit suicide by jumping. Absolute is a blind pole dancer in a strip club, isolated from everybody. She becomes involved with Fadoul and he offers to pay for an operation to restore her sight with the money that he found.
These apparently unrelated stories of people on the fringes of society, living on the edge, all run parallel to one another exploring a range of themes. They add up to an intriguing exploration of modern urban living.
Director, Joh Hartog, has assembled a very good cast, with a mix of emerging artists, graduates of either Flinders University or AC Arts, and some seasoned professionals. His acute direction has resulted in a tightly woven set of tales that complement each other well and add to build a powerful picture of the fragmented nature of modern life, where many of us now do not even know our next door neighbours.
What does one say about Bridget Walters that has not been said before? Frau Zucker is yet another of her captivating performances, filled with light and shade, balancing the humour and the pathos, convincingly portraying this complex woman and creating rich relationships with the other actors with whom she interacts.
As Frau Habersatt, Ann Portus also offers a strong performance, outwardly exhibiting every sign of being a quiet, dowdy, ordinary woman, suffering from her knowledge of the crimes committed by her son, yet she is strangely manipulative, giving a subtle indication of mental instability.
Then there is Anna Linarello, as Ella, with a very fine performance as a bitter, totally obsessed woman, frustrated and angered by her inability to engage in any form of communication with her husband, crossing the line to physical violence in her desperation for contact. She gives great depth to her character.
Bob Brady and Tim Smith provide some thoughtful performances as the two suicidal men, and Jesse Butler and Nic Krieg, as Fadoul and Eilisio, give some well rounded performances, their characterisations showing that they have been thrown together by circumstance and that they have little in common beyond their status as illegal immigrants.
Amy Victoria Brooks, as Rosa, and Hjálmar Svenna, as Franz, create very believable characters that supposedly have their marriage and the hope of children in common, yet signal in so many ways, spoken and unspoken, that they both have very different approaches to their lives and markedly diverse goals. They tend to suggest that having Frau Zucker preventing them from pursuing their life together is actually a blessing.
Newcomer, Samantha Soh, is a real find, offering a superbly sensitive performance as the blind dancer, Absolute. Keep an eye on her career as she is going places.
Casey van Sebille's set and Stephen Dean's lighting combine to provide a space that suggests many locations without accurately defining any of them, adding to the feeling of dislocation embedded in this production.
Accidental Productions have a challenging and rewarding performance on their hands that is likely to sell out, so do not wait too long to get your tickets.
Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor, Glam Adelaide.
Australian Stage
Innocence is like a Decoder puzzle. You’re given a few letters then expected to be able to work out the rest. There are symbolic set pieces, symbolic actions, symbolic phrases - a semiotic web for the audience to clumsily wade through.
Innocence is one scrawny player trying to tackle an entire rugby team; first it hurls itself at Fear and Cowardice, as two characters watch a woman drown, one holding the other back for fear of the potential ramifications of the rescue. The ball is passed to Grief, Weakness and Need, and the woman seeking forgiveness for the sins of a son she never bore, from the parents of the murdered child. Lacking the courage to scream his honest feelings at her, the Father offers her a bed for the night and a cup of tea.
Two men sit on the top of the Suicide Tower. One can’t wait to jump, while the other still questions, fearful of the Beyond. A scene of endless questions, possibilities and circles ensues.
Then comes parenthood, old-age and disintegration, as the comic relief character in the show, Frau Zucker, devotes her last years to making life miserable for her daughter and son-in-law. The wonderful Bridget Walters plays lonely Frau Zucker with a great delight in her character’s viciousness and humour.
Anna Linarello creates Ella, the middle-aged philosopher pacing the house in her fluffy slippers. Even though she has burnt her books and dreams of starting afresh, the charcoal stains of her world-view remain. Her husband is a frozen presence in the background who she long ago beat into submissive silence. She hates him for his constancy and his ability to be content with the simple work of a jeweller. Ella’s three lengthy monologues move through stages of constructing her character and ideas, developing them, to find beautiful moments of humour in her neurotic frustration, until finally she finds herself repeating - repeating ideas, repeating actions, repeating desires. She is alone in her world, in her separate scenes, ever pacing her never-ending cycle.
The blind stripper, manufactured by her blind parents to be born sightless, is named Absolute. She is complete, as she completes her parents. A sudden love buds between she and Fadoul, the fearful immigrant who restrained his friend while a strange woman drowned. Fadoul finds God in a bag, in the form of 200,000 euros. He realises that “God is in us”, that God can only work through people, and uses God (and a little science) to give sight to Absolute. But she resists his miracle. Samantha Soh plays the loveable Absolute, and does a magnificent impression of blindness, and a valiant characterisation of this two-legged symbol.
Some descriptions of this controversial play call it hopeful. Through all struggles, the human spirit remains resilient. This is true in most cases - it can perhaps even be true for those who choose to end their lives. Yet to call it a play about hope is misguided. It is a play about surviving. Its characters stagger through life, desperately trying to connect the puzzle pieces of what they see, feel, hear, and are taught, in the vain hope of forming a coherent picture of existence.
The form of the play resembles this struggle. Ideas flutter on tenuous wings of comprehension, sometimes taking full body, at other times fading into smoke. You walk out wondering what you’ve been hit with - was it a rubber mallet, a wave of icy water, or a plummeting human body? Could be all of the above. I left feeling exhausted. Though the script is very well acted, and the scenes and staging excellently strung together, you feel like a weekend-jogger who has been suddenly thrown into a marathon. Yet the muscle that hurts is your brain.
Joanna Bowen
Innocence is like a Decoder puzzle. You’re given a few letters then expected to be able to work out the rest. There are symbolic set pieces, symbolic actions, symbolic phrases - a semiotic web for the audience to clumsily wade through.
Innocence is one scrawny player trying to tackle an entire rugby team; first it hurls itself at Fear and Cowardice, as two characters watch a woman drown, one holding the other back for fear of the potential ramifications of the rescue. The ball is passed to Grief, Weakness and Need, and the woman seeking forgiveness for the sins of a son she never bore, from the parents of the murdered child. Lacking the courage to scream his honest feelings at her, the Father offers her a bed for the night and a cup of tea.
Two men sit on the top of the Suicide Tower. One can’t wait to jump, while the other still questions, fearful of the Beyond. A scene of endless questions, possibilities and circles ensues.
Then comes parenthood, old-age and disintegration, as the comic relief character in the show, Frau Zucker, devotes her last years to making life miserable for her daughter and son-in-law. The wonderful Bridget Walters plays lonely Frau Zucker with a great delight in her character’s viciousness and humour.
Anna Linarello creates Ella, the middle-aged philosopher pacing the house in her fluffy slippers. Even though she has burnt her books and dreams of starting afresh, the charcoal stains of her world-view remain. Her husband is a frozen presence in the background who she long ago beat into submissive silence. She hates him for his constancy and his ability to be content with the simple work of a jeweller. Ella’s three lengthy monologues move through stages of constructing her character and ideas, developing them, to find beautiful moments of humour in her neurotic frustration, until finally she finds herself repeating - repeating ideas, repeating actions, repeating desires. She is alone in her world, in her separate scenes, ever pacing her never-ending cycle.
The blind stripper, manufactured by her blind parents to be born sightless, is named Absolute. She is complete, as she completes her parents. A sudden love buds between she and Fadoul, the fearful immigrant who restrained his friend while a strange woman drowned. Fadoul finds God in a bag, in the form of 200,000 euros. He realises that “God is in us”, that God can only work through people, and uses God (and a little science) to give sight to Absolute. But she resists his miracle. Samantha Soh plays the loveable Absolute, and does a magnificent impression of blindness, and a valiant characterisation of this two-legged symbol.
Some descriptions of this controversial play call it hopeful. Through all struggles, the human spirit remains resilient. This is true in most cases - it can perhaps even be true for those who choose to end their lives. Yet to call it a play about hope is misguided. It is a play about surviving. Its characters stagger through life, desperately trying to connect the puzzle pieces of what they see, feel, hear, and are taught, in the vain hope of forming a coherent picture of existence.
The form of the play resembles this struggle. Ideas flutter on tenuous wings of comprehension, sometimes taking full body, at other times fading into smoke. You walk out wondering what you’ve been hit with - was it a rubber mallet, a wave of icy water, or a plummeting human body? Could be all of the above. I left feeling exhausted. Though the script is very well acted, and the scenes and staging excellently strung together, you feel like a weekend-jogger who has been suddenly thrown into a marathon. Yet the muscle that hurts is your brain.
Joanna Bowen
INNOCENCE
Accidental Productions
Bakehouse Theatre
Until 16 Jul 2011
Review by Maggie Wood
Accidental Productions’ latest project is “Innocence” by German writer Dea Loher. It takes place in a mythical (or generic) city by the sea, starting with two illegal immigrants whose fear of the legal system makes them hesitate fatally for the woman they see drowning in the sea.
Next comes the woman who makes a habit of confessing to being the parent of various criminals, a couple of suicide jumpers, an undertaker (who loves his job) and his wife who postpone having a family when her domineering mother moves in, and so it goes on. The bleaker side of life is extensively explored and what humour there is, is dark and straight as a plethora of people are caught up in seemingly endless moments where the choice is there to go another way and make something different of the outcome.
Accidental’s production makes use of a talented band of actors. With an ensemble of 10, it’s a strong cast and true teamwork that succeeds in bringing the characters to life in the short, episodic scenes. To single any one performance out would imply lesser work from the others, and that would be erroneous, so congratulations in equal part go to Bob Brady, Amy Victoria Brooks, Jesse Butler, Nic Krieg, Anna Linarello, Ann Portus, Tim Smith, Samantha Soh, Hjalmar Swenna and Bridget Walters The versatile and slightly gothic set by Casey Van Sebille works well and supplements the darkness of the text. Joh Hartog has directed a tight and spare production. Due to the nature of the play, it might be something appreciated more by hard-core theatre goers, but once again it has shown that, when it comes to Accidental Productions and the Bakehouse Theatre, they consistently produce quality theatre that enriches the experiences of theatre goers in Adelaide.
Accidental Productions
Bakehouse Theatre
Until 16 Jul 2011
Review by Maggie Wood
Accidental Productions’ latest project is “Innocence” by German writer Dea Loher. It takes place in a mythical (or generic) city by the sea, starting with two illegal immigrants whose fear of the legal system makes them hesitate fatally for the woman they see drowning in the sea.
Next comes the woman who makes a habit of confessing to being the parent of various criminals, a couple of suicide jumpers, an undertaker (who loves his job) and his wife who postpone having a family when her domineering mother moves in, and so it goes on. The bleaker side of life is extensively explored and what humour there is, is dark and straight as a plethora of people are caught up in seemingly endless moments where the choice is there to go another way and make something different of the outcome.
Accidental’s production makes use of a talented band of actors. With an ensemble of 10, it’s a strong cast and true teamwork that succeeds in bringing the characters to life in the short, episodic scenes. To single any one performance out would imply lesser work from the others, and that would be erroneous, so congratulations in equal part go to Bob Brady, Amy Victoria Brooks, Jesse Butler, Nic Krieg, Anna Linarello, Ann Portus, Tim Smith, Samantha Soh, Hjalmar Swenna and Bridget Walters The versatile and slightly gothic set by Casey Van Sebille works well and supplements the darkness of the text. Joh Hartog has directed a tight and spare production. Due to the nature of the play, it might be something appreciated more by hard-core theatre goers, but once again it has shown that, when it comes to Accidental Productions and the Bakehouse Theatre, they consistently produce quality theatre that enriches the experiences of theatre goers in Adelaide.
dB Magazine
Dea Loher's 'Innocence' is a challenging yet rewarding reflection on the fracturing of the modern world and its moral compass. In the hands of Accidental Productions Director Joh Hartog and his wonderfully talented cast, it is a timely example of the power of modern theatre. Told in such a way that echoes the fracturing of its narrative and its theme of dispossession in an unreliable world, 'Innocence' is a loose and sprawling construction of story strands that come together in various ways, illuminating the challenges that life throws at us and how we choose to deal with them. Characters drift in and out of scenes like memories, as the role of narrator shifts constantly between the characters, creating a surreal dreamlike atmosphere for Loher's powerful dialogue.
The 10-strong cast is terrific, handling the difficult subject matter and lengthy monologues with superb assurance and professionalism. An equal mix of new talent and experienced performers, the women in the cast are especially powerful. Ann Portus and Bridget Walters lend an added fragility to their world-weary characters, whilst the younger cast members perfectly capture the naivety and gradual corruption of their characters' innocence. Anna Linarello, in her first stage
performance in five years, is riveting in a demanding role as a philosopher who has burnt all but one of her books and Samantha Soh, at the centre of the play, is beautifully vulnerable as a blind pole dancer. This is truly an ensemble performance, however, and all cast members are to be highly commended.
Hartog's direction, as always, is the string that binds these delicate fragments together in an artful and alluring way. Hartog's productions often feature characters undressing, yet rarely has it been more appropriate than here, where undressing represents a stripping-down to the human essence of the characters, leaving them at their most vulnerable and transparent. Furthermore, Hartog is not afraid to place trust in his audience with some unconventional staging that at times has actors facing toward the back of the stage. Nevertheless, this results in a more natural relationship between the characters and
an overall more immersive experience. Casey van Sebille's set is minimalist and dark, echoing a Beckettesque landscape that is ultimately not nearly as grim as that sounds.
Hartog and van Sebille constantly find a good balance between the natural light and dark of Loher's script, leading to an eventual redemption of sorts for its characters. 'Innocence' is not a perfect play, however, and it is difficult to fully comprehend in just one sitting, yet it possesses an inspirational quality that leaves you with a sense that you have just witnessed something special and this sense is ultimately more important and satisfying than a play that does all the "right" things and ticks all the "right" boxes.
Aaron Nash
Dea Loher's 'Innocence' is a challenging yet rewarding reflection on the fracturing of the modern world and its moral compass. In the hands of Accidental Productions Director Joh Hartog and his wonderfully talented cast, it is a timely example of the power of modern theatre. Told in such a way that echoes the fracturing of its narrative and its theme of dispossession in an unreliable world, 'Innocence' is a loose and sprawling construction of story strands that come together in various ways, illuminating the challenges that life throws at us and how we choose to deal with them. Characters drift in and out of scenes like memories, as the role of narrator shifts constantly between the characters, creating a surreal dreamlike atmosphere for Loher's powerful dialogue.
The 10-strong cast is terrific, handling the difficult subject matter and lengthy monologues with superb assurance and professionalism. An equal mix of new talent and experienced performers, the women in the cast are especially powerful. Ann Portus and Bridget Walters lend an added fragility to their world-weary characters, whilst the younger cast members perfectly capture the naivety and gradual corruption of their characters' innocence. Anna Linarello, in her first stage
performance in five years, is riveting in a demanding role as a philosopher who has burnt all but one of her books and Samantha Soh, at the centre of the play, is beautifully vulnerable as a blind pole dancer. This is truly an ensemble performance, however, and all cast members are to be highly commended.
Hartog's direction, as always, is the string that binds these delicate fragments together in an artful and alluring way. Hartog's productions often feature characters undressing, yet rarely has it been more appropriate than here, where undressing represents a stripping-down to the human essence of the characters, leaving them at their most vulnerable and transparent. Furthermore, Hartog is not afraid to place trust in his audience with some unconventional staging that at times has actors facing toward the back of the stage. Nevertheless, this results in a more natural relationship between the characters and
an overall more immersive experience. Casey van Sebille's set is minimalist and dark, echoing a Beckettesque landscape that is ultimately not nearly as grim as that sounds.
Hartog and van Sebille constantly find a good balance between the natural light and dark of Loher's script, leading to an eventual redemption of sorts for its characters. 'Innocence' is not a perfect play, however, and it is difficult to fully comprehend in just one sitting, yet it possesses an inspirational quality that leaves you with a sense that you have just witnessed something special and this sense is ultimately more important and satisfying than a play that does all the "right" things and ticks all the "right" boxes.
Aaron Nash