Review: GOOD WORKS Questions What Is More Important, Good Deeds Or A Good Heart

Thursday 5th November 2015, Eternity Playhouse, Darlinghurst

Nick Enright's GOOD WORKS examines the difference between the orchestrated image people present for the world to see and the truth of human character in a moving 90 minute work. Director Ian Sinclair presents this complex emotional work that crosses time to show how decisions made under the guise of 'Good Works' have shaken and changed lives.

The work weaves between different eras, from a time when Rita (Taylor Ferguson) in pencil skirt and blouse and orphan Mary Margaret (Lucy Goleby) in full skirted dress and matching jacket are children, sharing the joy of a doll, to decades later when a man, Tim, (Stephen Multari) in jeans and a sweater in a pub meets a stranger who introduces himself as John (Anthony Gooley) that reminds him of someone he used to know. The connection between these 4 lives unfolds as we see how the other 9 characters have shaped how to men came to be where they are now. Spurred on by the belief that what they are doing will secure a place in heaven, the older generations fail to see the hypocrisy of their actions and their beliefs leads them to paint a young woman as something she isn't and young boys are abused and damaged for life.

Production Designer Hugh O'Connor has created a clean, snow covered space, bordered by grass covered plinths of increasing height that lead up to the former Baptist church's Apse that forms the rear of the Eternity Playhouse's stage. The pillars double as seats and tables and add vertical interest as the performance takes place on and amongst them. O'Connor has also kept the costuming simple, keeping the core 4 characters in the same costume throughout, even with the two central men portraying two characters each. The two other actors that take on the remaining 9 characters change costumes to represent the religious teachers, mothers and friends. Sian James-Holland's lighting allows the stories to cross and heightens the mood. Nate Edmondson's sound and music is clean and simple highlighting an underlying innocence that the characters once had.

Goleby, as the orphan Mary Margaret captures the perennial 'good girl' that Mother John (Toni Scanlan) sends to work for the wealthy Donovan family and is groomed to marry their son Neil when he returns from war. Ferguson, as Mary Margaret's childhood friend Rita, weaves between the eventual 'deterioration' as the play jumps back and forth in time. When she presents a younger Rita she has a youthful innocent energy. When the time changes to an older Rita, her voice changes to a coarser tone as she moves away from her Catholic schooling and becomes a barmaid

Multari inhabits two very different characters of Tim, who we see from childhood to maturity, and Eddie, Rita's first husband. As a younger Tim, he captures the music loving dreamer that creates his own childhood language with his best friend but is misunderstood and punished by his own father and the Christian Brother's that teach him. Since there is no costume change, the portrayal of the no-good Eddie is very different ensuring that the changes in character are clear. Similarly, Gooley presents two roles, Tim's best friend Shane and Mary Margaret's husband Neil. As the younger Shane he displays the loyalty and devotion to his friend. As the older John/Shane, he is broodier and darker, changed by the events that unfold. As Neil, he presents a homophobic father that is disappointed in his son and is also suffering from PTSD.

In addition to presenting Mother John from the Convent School that Rita and Mary Margaret attend, Scanlan also captures Rita mother Mrs Kennedy and Mary Margaret's Mother In Law, Mrs Donovan. The world weary Mrs Kennedy attends church regularly and knits socks for the soldiers at war but has given up responding to her daughter's pleas for assistance. In contrast, the proper and posh Mrs Donovan is reserved and well-presented despite her assertions that she, like Mary Margaret, came from nothing. Jamie Oxenbould rounds out the cast filling multiple roles of Tim's camp friend Alan; Neil's father, a pillar of the community, Mr Donovan; Brother Clement runs the school Shane and Tim attend with a leather strap; and Barry, Rita's boss and landlord who has designs on Rita.

GOOD WORKS is a well presented, poignant and complex work about lost youth, damaged lives, abuse, betrayal, and prejudice. It deals with difficult issues relating to situations that stem from the Catholic Church's teaching that a person's exterior activities like attending church, knitting for the troops and being seen to be charitable can counteract inner qualities that may not be so pure. GOOD WORKS is important piece of theatre regardless of what people believe in as it forces the audience to examine how they act when they are being watched and what they do when they aren't.

GOOD WORKS

Eternity Playhouse

39 Burton St Darlinghurst

31 October - 29 November

Photos: Helen White

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