REVIEW: Guest Reviewer Kym Vaitiekus Shares His Thoughts On CONSENT

Saturday 2nd June 7:30 pm 2023, Everest Theatre, Seymour Centre

Outhouse Theater Co and Seymour Centre present Nina Raine’s CONSENT.

CONSENT’s premiere production was in 2017 at The National Theatre, London, garnering rave reviews. Director Craig Baldwin brings the Australian premiere to the Seymour stage. He has assembled a fine cast who bring truth and reality to every character.

Raine’s Play explores the notion of consent through various eyes, the way the justice system views it, how intimate relationships see it and how bystanders interpret it.

CONSENT opens with the world of lawyers with their caliver approach to assault cases. The accused, plaintiffs and witnesses become play things and jokes over catch-up drinks.

Friends, Edward (Nic English) and Tim (Sam O’Sullivan) are working on opposing sides of an assault case. Edward excludes evidence as prejudicial when defending the accuser. Tim is taken aback when he prepares to brief Gayle (Jessica Bell), a witness. She assumes, as a rape victim, she will be handed justice. Tim is ill equipped to convince Gayle that she is just evidence.

Ed and Tim, toast wine and have a petty bet over who will win the case.

Edward doesn’t think that victims should have a role in punishment, ‘Because then it becomes about vengeance.’

Kitty (Anna Samson) and Edward offend their friends Rachel (Jennifer Rani) and Jake (Jeremy Waters) when they declare they have decided not to have godparents for their newly born. They talk friendship and parenting.

Ed, Jake, and Rachel are all lawyers. The four drink together planning to match make Tim and Zara (Anna Skellern). Zara an actress, is rehearsing the Greek drama Medea - ‘The men are shits and the women are insufferable because they’re so holier than thou.’

We follow the drama in the courts as Gayle fights the judicial system that ignores her experience and manipulates the facts to support the barrister’s aim – to defend the accuser.

This is paralleled with the drama of the manipulators whose personal lives are in turmoil.

Jake is devastated when Rachel leaves him over infidelity, and he fears the outcome of child custody. Kitty finds love elsewhere after seeking revenge on her husband Ed who continually pays for his unfaithful past.

CONSENT has cleverly interwoven the various threads with engaging effect.

The intimate emotional journeys of the players intertwined with the exploration of themes: What is consent, where dies justice lie, what role does morality have and what is truth.

Baldwin’s ensemble are strong performers. They are earnest and grounded, bringing an intense sense of reality.

English portrays the masculine, heartless and conniving Edward with gusto. Samson wonderfully delves into the layers that make Kitty engaging and compelling. Waters commands the role of Jake displaying the fine layers of a tortured and egotistical male. The careful and cautious Tim is delicately and finely embodied by O’Sullivan. Rani deftly presents Rachel as the smart, aware lawyer who holds her own. Skellern is perfect as the enthusiastic actor finding her way in the world of lawyer friends.

Bell is a highlight of the evening with her expert portrayal of the truthful working-class woman, who’s honesty becomes a victim of the courtroom.

Soham Apte’s set design is elegant, streamline and effective. Along with Baldwin’s direction, the courtroom scene is impactful. The dramatic entrance of a character is empowered with a clever set design. Ryan McDonald adds superb lighting to great effect with the two way mirrored wall. Although some lights revealed the wall’s base structure, pre emptying that effective entrance and encroaching on the elegant lighting of the night.

Eliza Scott’s sound design is superb and sets the scene beautifully. Other soundscapes were fitting in creating the various moods that evolved.

CONSENT runs at 140 minutes with the scene changes being executed by the actors. This was methodically carried out while one performer stayed in character as an observer. I was curious that the scene change post interval took so long when this would have been better served if completed during the break.

Raine wrote CONSENT pre the ‘me too’ movement and decided not to update her work as the productions went ahead. The humour incorporated in her work I found somewhat tricky in this production. Some scenes warranted more audience laughter, however the severity of the context and the powerful performances often led to an opposite reaction.

When there was laughter, in response to one liners, it felt awkward and clashing with the drama at hand.

Just like the way Gayle’s story is coldly treated by the judicial system is seems Raine has used the emotions of her characters as devices to make her point without being connected to those feelings. We experience the journeys of her players as a study rather than as an emotional engagement.

CONSENT’s conclusion is one of redemption, but the strength of this work is the journey to arrive there. Raine has inventively intertwined the characters’ trials and tribulations with a clever exploration of what ‘consemt’ means.

See this impressive ensemble for an engaging and thoughtful night of enjoyable modern theatre.

CONSENT

By Nina Raine

1 - 24 JUN 2023

Photography by Phil Erbacher

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