Totally F*CK*N* Amazing

I am speechless. Awe-struck. At a loss of words. What an astounding production. I don't know how I'll fit all of my thoughts in one review. But I'll give it my best shot.

For those that aren't familiar with the musical, Spring Awakening is a rock musical by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, that is based on the 1891 German play Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind. Set in late-19th-century Germany, the musical tells the story of teenagers discovering the inner and outer tumult of teenage sexuality. Despite the controversy plaguing it (and still plaguing it), the original Broadway production won eight Tony Awards, including Tonys for Best Musical, Direction, Book, Score and Featured Actor. The production also garnered four Drama Desk Awards, while its original cast album received a Grammy Award.

The role of theatre is to predominantly start a conversation and one of the things that I love about theatre is that it isn't afraid to confront and make you think. And, all of this is achieved in less than three hours. As a reviewer, I always receive an extra ticket for a plus one. Normally, I would bring a colleague or friend of mine who works in the performing arts industry or my Mother, but last night I brought a friend who is like a little sibling of mine and who also happens to be a fourteen-year-old boy, just a year younger than the characters portrayed in front of him. Why did I take a fourteen-year-old to see a show with nudity in it, swearing and suicide instead of an adult? Because it's not about us adults; it's about them. It's about teenagers. And who better to share an experience about adolescents than with an adolescent.

Out of all of us, teenagers struggle to communicate the most about the happenings in their heads but most importantly their sexuality. And I was one of those teens, as were you and your next-door neighbour. Only, unlike the youths in the musical, there is now the opportunity to have open conversations about these topics, unlike in the days of Melchior, Moritz and Wendla. James Shaw and Elise Greig were fantastic in their varying adult roles, which is why I felt awful being mad at their characters for the entirety of the show.

I was furious at Melchior's father for not being the accepting father that everyone desires and for being THE catalyst for his own son's suicide. Similarly, I was furious at Wendla's mother for treating her daughter like someone who still believes in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy and not telling Wendla the truth about the reproductive cycle, who again was the catalyst for Wendla's death. And lastly, I was furious at Moritz's family for sending him away to a reformative school when they should have been having a conversation and at Martha and Ilse's father for treating his daughters like animals. My anger was no doubt mirrored by not only the rest of the audience, but the characters in the story and the adolescents who inspired this work to be written. A voice should never be silent; just like sexuality shouldn't be a taboo subject and I'm glad that in our modern-day society that people are slowly realising that.

Tim Hill (Director), Deanna Castellana (Choreographer) and Dominic Woodhead (Musical Director) are the triple act that the Brisbane independent theatre sector need. You can tell how much passion a creative team have towards a project by the standard of the work on stage and the work on stage (bar the inconsistent German accents) was immaculate. The actors on stage also shared this passion; their energy was infectious and when they smiled at you, you were already smiling back at them. The casting was phenomenal and the vocals were fantastic. Everyone shined on stage; even when an actor was sitting in the darkness they were in the light.

'The Bitch of Living' was the foot-stamping anthem I'd always yearned for, Ruby Clark (Ilse) and Jordan Malone (Martha) were beautifully haunting in 'The Dark I Know Well' and the two of them combined are the powerhouse vocals I didn't know I needed. Another favourite was Oliver Lacey (Moritz) and Clark's 'Don't Do Sadness/Blue Wind', in which each note was full of hope and loss and everything in between. And their chemistry was the strongest out of all of the pairings in the show, and they only shared the stage together in that one song. Jacqui McLaren and Harrison Aston were believable as Wendla and Moritz, with Aston's gut-wrenching crying before the opening notes of 'Those You've Known Started', leaving me in tears and made me reflect on how unfair and unjust it was that he'd lost the two people closest to his heart, all because of something society deemed forbidden. But my favourite of all of my favourite things was the vocal direction and staging of 'The Song of Purple Summer', in which each cast member touched Clark's characters hand before joining a triangular formation, in which they were all shoulder to shoulder, with Clark at the point. Quite frankly, the show couldn't have ended with a more powerful image.

Other things I loved about this production was the live band and Clark playing the violin live on stage and the incredible tree which had lights hanging off (and on) of its branches; a formidable metaphor of life, the journey each character has to take to reach the top branch and that even if they don't make it; life lives on. Just like their silenced youth lives on, unless an adult makes a change. When Wendla and Moritz first met at the foot of the tree, they didn't know what a big change their relationship would make to not only their life, but our lives. And I hope that everyone in the audience who has a teenager, or a teenage sibling is having these conversations to prevent more stories like this from becoming a reality.

Rating: 5 Stars

Spring Awakening

By Underground Broadway at Metro Arts

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