MKA
25 July
MKA Pop Up Theatre, North Melbourne
to 4 August
mka.org.au
Lesbian vampires. Do I need to say more?
Lesbian vampires in North Fitzroy.
A play with lesbian vampires, set in North Fitzroy, performed in an empty North Melbourne (really Kensington) warehouse by MKA. What more could you want?
And there is more. There's Piedimontes (the greatest worst supermarket), Chopper, Vince Colosimo, 4WDs that have never been as far as St Kilda, the guy who sells The Big Issue, the gardens where many a virginity has been lost and a soy-latte-addicted baby called Finnigan.
I love that theatre like this exists.
I love that its writing has been workshopped and developed and tightened, and that it's creepy and beautiful and blood thirsty, and that its humour lets us laugh at our selves and inner-city community. (Even if I transposed it to the Carlisle Street Coles in East St Kilda.)
I love that director Tanya Dickson (JATO) finds the theatre in the story's structure and works so closely with the design team.
I love that designer Eugyeene Teh has made another corner of this warehouse inseparable from this work and that he uses carpet squares. I love that Rob Sowinski's lighting and Russell Goldsmith's sound are such a part of the story telling.
I love that actors Elizabeth Nabben and Janine Watson found the dead hearts and bleeding souls of their characters and didn't let us dismiss their recognisable cliched outer selves.
Triangle is not going to be the work that takes writer Glyn Roberts (Horror Face) to the world (yet), but who cares when the world for many is that North Fitzroy triangle and it's captured with a mixture of cynicism and love that's as welcome as a marked-down fruit bun wrapped in plastic from Piedi's when you're really hungry and want to save your change for a pear cider later in the evening.
I love that Melbourne theatre is so much more than the ongoing big-worded tiff about Queen Lear and that The Triangle was so much better than staying in with a pizza and watching the Masterchef final, which is what I so nearly did.
You may now go and re-watch The Hunger and wonder why straight men think so much about lesbian vampires.
This review appeared on AussieTheatre.com
Photo by Sarah Walker
