Writer and director: Alexander Zeldin
It is a long way from Sydney to London and a long time from World War II to the present day. Writer and director Alexander Zeldin’s new play embarks on these epic journeys, viewed from the perspective of one woman’s quest for cultural enlightenment and self-empowerment. An international collaboration, this production is co-commissioned by the National Theatre, RISING Melbourne and Théâtres de la Ville Luxembourg.
Inspired by conversations with Zeldin’s mother and her peers, the woman in the story is Alice, played in later life by Amelda Brown and, for most of the play, by Eryn Jean Norvill, whose performance is a tour-de-force. All other roles are shared among seven actors. Alice is born into a traditional Australian family; her father, a soldier who is away fighting in the War, is unknown to her in her formative years and the faraway shores of Europe seem no more than a dream to her.
Driven by a rebellious streak and a thirst for knowledge, Alice matures to become a fiercely independent woman, immersed in the Arts. The play tracks her progress through troubled times and stormy relationships to eventually discovering her place in the world. The times in which she lives impact her life, but, in some small way, she helps to change those times.
The play purports to be an “intimate portrait” of Alice, but here Zeldin hits a problem; intimacy and the Lyttelton Theatre frequently make uncomfortable bedfellows. The writer/director’s previous work at the National Theatre, the gritty social dramas LOVE and Faith, Hope and Charity have thrived on the compact space of the Dorfman Theatre, but. here, the vast stage almost swallows his play. Zeldin attempts to break down the fourth wall by having characters enter and exit through the audience, but to little avail and Marg Horwell’s colourless set designs drain the production of any warmth coming from the performances.
Perhaps it was always foolishly ambitious to try to condense this sprawling and complex narrative into a one-act play, running for under two hours and, inevitably, the storytelling is episodic and often confusing. There are several dramatic flashpoints, heightened by stirring modern orchestral music, composed by Yannis Philippakis, but they tend to feel isolated from the story and their impact is thereby diminished.
There is much of interest in The Confessions, but this production feels cold and distant, leaving many of the play’s complexities still tangled.
Runs until 4 November 2023
The Reviews Hub Score
Cold and distant
I found the play went down hill after the initial monologue. The acting was excellent however the storyline seemed un engaging and quite pedestrian. I waited for the characters to delve deeply into their individualities but was left unsatisfied. Without knowing much about the play I had assumed that the essence of the story was that everyone’s life, however un interesting is, at the end full of the play I was left scratching my head with little emotional connection to the characters.