Review: FOURTHCOMING by shake & stir

In Fourthcoming, shake & stir have created a new style of theatre and audiences are frothing for it.

shake & stir is one of Brisbane's brightest and best theatre company who are most well-regarded and acclaimed for their adaptations of iconic works including Animal Farm, Dracula and Road Dahl for the children's stage. When they released that they were not only creating their own new work from scratch, but that it was an audience-interactive, romantic comedy, they had the Brisbane theatre community buzzing. What were they thinking? Would it work? This is so out of the box for them, right? Well, I'm here to tell you that it not only worked but it transcended expectations and the perception of the medium of theatre itself.

Nelle Lee has brought the millennial's addiction and love of reality television to the stage; fabricating a sexy and very fun choose-your-own adventure in which the audience votes on different character actions' throughout the show on their smartphones as well as ultimately deciding on who the protagonist Gwen (Cece Peters) picks. I imagine that writing four different endings for a play, as well as writing two different options for whatever the audience voted on, would have been an incredibly time-consuming, daunting and quite challenging to do. But Lee crushed it and created a new form of theatre; reality theatre.

What I loved the most about the script was the way Nelle transformed a simple, superficial story of a woman in her thirties looking for love on tinder, aided by her best friend siri into a narrative that scratches below the surface and provides a commentary on body image and self-confidence and the unstable rapports women have with food, sex and their bodies, which as a young woman was very refreshing and much needed.

This transformation of turning a stage into a tv screen was further encapsulated by designer Josh McIntosh, lighting designer Jason Glenwright, sound designer Guy Webster and video designer Craig Wilkinson who brought Gwen's instant-feed, left-swipe lifestyle to light through creating a virtual set, which in ways created a third character in the show. The projections would be a vehicle to explore tinder profiles, to transport us into sex exhibition and to a sip and paint. It was additionally utilised to project characters (all played by Johnny Balbuziente)and a mini-golf interface bot, all which further complimented the digital playing field of dating apps and of popular culture. Shout out to production manager Mark Middleton, show controller Ben Shaw, props master Callie Roebuck and the head of video and audio Caitlyn Kidney, for creating such seamless transitions on stage with each turn of the screens.

Balbuziente brought such nuance to his four characters; who were both stereotyped but also three-dimensional and truthful. He stepped in and out of them with such ease and seamlessness that it showed how he is a masters of his craft. Peters guided us through Gwen's quest for love with such charisma, joy and wit. We fell in love with her because she was unlike the contestants we see on reality television. She was real and she was relatable, which is not only testimony to Peters' portrayal but also to Lee's writing.

shake & stir's Fourthcoming is refreshing, joyous and innovative. If you love reality tv or if you want to experience a night of sexyness, laughter and exquisite stagecraft and writing, this is the show for you.

Rating: 5 stars

Photography by David Fell

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