Review: Presented With Honesty, The Confronting A PROPERTY OF THE CLAN Remains An Important Work In A Society Still Grappling with Violence Against Women

Wednesday 30 September 2015, 7:30pm, Blood Moon Theatre, Kings Cross

Australian Playwright, Nick Enright's thought provoking play, A PROPERTY OF THE CLAN returns to the Sydney stage in a time when society still has a problem with violence against women. Presented with maturity and sincerity, this fictional work, based on a true story is unfortunately still as important and topical for today's society as it was in 1992 when it was first staged.

In the intimate space of the Blood Moon Theatre, situated within World Bar, designer Martelle Hunt has created a simple but highly visual and dynamic backdrop for Phillip Rouse's (Director) production. The cast of 4 in identical red t-shirts, shorts and canvas shoes add to Hunt's clear plastic backdrop with paint throughout the performance, creating scenes and highlighting the culture that dominates the story.

This is by no means a feel good, happy play, but is important in the gravity of its content and the cast handle the material admirably. The ensemble of George Banders, Megan Drury, Jack Starkey and Samantha Young portray the students, mothers and teacher that are affected by the violence that occurs at an alcohol and drug fueled beach party full of hormonal teenagers. Drury portrays the young single mother struggling to raise 16 year old Jared(Banders) and his 14 year old sister Jade(Young) after her abusive husband has been thrown out who try. Young portrays Mariam, mother of Jared's girlfriend Rachel (Drury), who lives across the water in a better neighborhood who seeks to distance Rachel from the working class seaside community of Blackrock to which Diane and her family belong. Starkey is Ricko, the Blackrock icon, older than the students, who throws the ill-fated beach party to celebrate his return from Queensland.

Rouse has chosen to let Enright's dialogue and the performers' skills tell the story with the backdrop being more of an abstract expression of the students' minds rather than providing a specific location. Banders and Starkey capture the brutal, macho male culture that dominated by hormones that also sees the victim, 14 year old Tracy, as "asking for it". The misplaced loyalty, a need to belong, and a fear of retribution allow the case to carry on so long. The difference between the male and female response is also telling.

Banders captures Jared's younger, more innocent confusion as to how he should respond and his handling of what he knows, highlighting that there needs to be a change in how men priorities their values and an encouragement to ensure they stand up when they witness something wrong rather than staying silent. Banders shows that Jared is conflicted and tormented by wanting to share his secret and not wanting to get his friends into trouble. Starkey, as the older Ricko expresses the vileness of the culture that believes that men can take what they want and that girls are "asking for it" as he shows no remorse for the part he played. He presents the reprehensible character that preys on girls and bullies he mates into silence with disgusting accuracy.

As Rachel and Jade, Drury and Young present two very different responses to the events. As Jade, Tracy's best friend, Young captures Jade's retreat into herself and isolation she feels as she is haunted by the events, wishing she had been there to help her friend despite obeying her mother's orders that she not go to the party. Rachel highlights the community's inability to address the real problem of why this happened rather than the constant examination and investigation of how it happened. Drury presents Rachel's desire to understand and educate her community with passion as she is expresses the disappointment in her schoolmates and the community in general.

This is a detailed, important work that forces the audience to think about how we view women, both from a female and a male point of view, and how we treat each other in general. The girls in this story do try to stop the boys using derogatory terms that label their classmates but the examples strewn across the backdrop show the hurtful labels that people carelessly use. The adults and the recounts of the community shows the various responses to the events including that they thought Tracy was asking for it by the way she acted and dressed and the shifting of blame from the assailants to the victim. This forces the question of why society excuses for this abhorrent behavior that starts in school and can continue to adult life as represented by Diane's need to change her phone number to escape an abusive ex-husband. Diane's desire to shield her children from knowing the extent of their father's abuse also perpetuates the problems as seen by Jared's challenge in deciding to protect his "friend" or expose what he knows.

A PROPERTY OF THE CLAN is a poignant work that is presented with the integrity that expresses that the cast and creators understand that this Australian work needs to be heard in order to make a difference to society. Well worth seeing, this is an important piece for all audiences, particularly young adults (unfortunately, the location within The World Bar restricts the audience to 18+) who can possibly relate to the characters and hopefully change the way their communities respect each other, be it removing labels, shunning gossip or respecting each other.

A PROPERTY OF THE CLAN

Blood Moon Theatre, The World Bar, 24 Bayswater Road, Potts Point

30 September - 17th October 2015

Images Supplied.

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