Clever word play, mountains of humour, a dark and foreboding storyline and brilliant performances make Speaking in Tongues a not-to-be-missed theatrical experience.
Andrew Bovell’s play Speaking in Tongues has become an enduring work for Australian theatre companies since it made it’s debut over 30 years ago.
It was adapted into the acclaimed film Lantana, but the success of the feature film hasn’t dampened artistic director’s desire the stage the play.
Despite it being an often presented work, I’d never seen it before the current production at Black Swan State Theatre Company, and despite owning a copy of the DVD of the film, I’ve never watched it. I come in with fresh eyes, and no expectations.
It was captivating, insightful, very funny, mystical and and an incredibly rewarding pleasure to experience.
We meet two couples, each straying from their wedding vows and meeting for a potential night of passion with a new body, a new person, a different person.
Both couples act out the scene simultaneously, their words overlapping, their stories and lives intertwined. It’s a mesmerising start to discovering a story about love, trust, betrayal and suspicion.
It takes time for us to work out who is who, what the relationships are between the characters, and while there’s only four actors on stage, they show off their skills by playing nine different people in the story.
Encountering the storytelling devices of Speaking in Tongues reminded me of reading the Bret Easton Ellis book The Informers, a series of stories where you’re often left trying to workout if the person mentioned in one characters tale, in the person you saw in a previous scene.
Unlike Eason Ellis, Bovell does bring all the threads together, slowly the full picture becomes visible as different pieces are dropped into place.
Bringing the characters to life are four talented actors. Catherine Moore, Alexandria Steffensen, Matt Egerton and Luke Hewitt.
They’ve been guided by director Humphrey Bower, and assistant director Yvan Karlsson. Fiona Bruce has created a sparse set that descends from the heavens, it’s effective because it allows the performances to be the focus. The contributions of Mark Haslam’s lighting and video projections, and a soundscape and score from Ash Gibson Greig also add nuances layers to the presentation.
Speaking in Tongues is a play that works on many levels. On one hand there’s a mystery around what some of the characters have been up to, but more prominent is a series of stories about making connections with the people we love, or more often, completely failing to.
The play is on at the State Theatre Centre until 14th September. Tickets are on sale now.
Photographs by Daniel J. Grant.
