REVIEW: SEX MAGICK Explores The Ownership Of Culture As A Young Australian-South Asian Man Discovers Himself

Thursday 23rd February 2023, 7:00pm, The Stables Theatre Kings Cross

Nicholas Brown's (playwright and co-director) new work SEX MAGICK is a brilliant new comedic self-discovery story that has deep conversations of culture and who has a right to practice, promote and profit from it. Presented with a Queer twist, Brown's own experience as an Australian-Indian informs this work about cultural appropriation of studies that seek to promote the wellness and betterment of people.

The essence of SEX MAGICK lies in the 30 year old Ard Panicker (Raj Labade), the first son of Cindy (Blazey Best), a white Australian woman who fell in love with a Kathakali dancer while on holiday in Kerala, a south western costal region of India. Told in a non-linear format, after an unusual medical episode at his mother's refurbished mansion, the audience sees Ard transported to the tropical heat of India with what appears to be his latest love interest Liraz (Catherine Văn-Davies), the overeager proprietor of a Shakthi health spa but nothing is straightforward in SEX MAGICK. Liraz has enrolled them into a Tantric healing course run by Manmatha(Stephen Madsen), a self-appointed guru whose parents came from Yorkshire, but given that he thought they were going to an Ayurvedic retreat, Ard less than happy with the bland diet, restrictive rules and Guru that is making eyes at Liraz. The result is that Ard comes away from India with more than just a food allergy, needing treatment that modern medicine cannot provide.

Set and Costume designer Mason Browne has presented the corner stage of The Stables Theatre with elements that capture both the jungle retreat in Kerala and the Rugby League club locker rooms that represent the world that Ard and his family are so closely aligned given Cindy is the Vice-Chairman of the Hyperions Rugby League Club and Ard's brother Kollam (never seen) is one of the club's star players. Banks of lockers sit within the crumbling arches of colonial ruins that have been overgrown with lush greenery and a simple bench being the only mobile set piece. Browne has incorporated a range of surprises within the lockers to ensure they are more than static features. The use of smoke and projections adds an ethereal nature to the work and the ability to have images hang in mid air is inspired. Browne's costume design has a simplicity, but they still ensure that the multiple characters that the performers inhabit are clear. Browne expresses the connection between Ard and Liraz through their matching terracotta and beige comfortable travelling outfits which stands in contrast to Liraz' activewear that she adopts when in Sydney. The costumes for the Guru and his devotees capture a sense of outsiders playing a part while the Kathakali dancers (Raj Labade and Mansoor Noor) have an unadorned simplicity.

This work is engaging throughout with a liberal dose of humour and clever wordplay which highlights the fact that Manmatha and his lead devotee Gondeshwar (Blazey Best), a Eastern European woman, are frauds, profiting off another culture without any proof that they have the capability to deliver on the promised healing and enlightenment. The double entendre and innuendo is delivered with a sincerity and apparent ignorance of the dual nature of what they are saying yet it falls perfectly into the purpose of the retreat as claiming to cater to sex therapy. Co-Directors Nicholas Brown and Declan Greene ensure that it is clear that Manmatha and his cohort believe that they hold the power to effect change in how they have dealt with scenes expressing the characters varied comfort with their bodies and the eventual therapy, ensuring that it is handled tastefully and implied action undertaken under the cover of a heavy shroud of smoke. The second act takes on a more surreal element as the elements of the first act are explained through Magick and myths as a deeper understanding of Ard's cultural heritage is explored.

The six performers, Raj Labade, Blazey Best, Catherine Văn-Davies, Mansoor Noor, Stephen Madsen and Veshnu Narayanasamy, deliver the 20 characters with clarity as they weave through the different timeframes. Raj Labade has an awareness and questioning nature as Ard while Catherine Văn-Davies infuses an eagerness to her portrayal of Liraz while also expressing that she moulds herself to the surroundings as she shifts her styling and intensity when she is home in Sydney compared to in India. As Manmatha, Stephen Madsen oozes a smarmy confidence of someone that knows that they've got the eye of the observer and that distraction can work in their favour as they convince their clients they are a guru. This is presented as a contrast to his expression of homophobic rugby player Gazza and the awkward participant at Body Somatic.

With revelations that help anchor the work as a Queer piece of theatre, SEX MAGICK is an enjoyable and engaging work that challenges the notion that people are wearing 'masks' to fit and how and when should we accept that culture can be owned and practiced by someone not connected to that culture. It also considers the question of at what point do we know who we really are, if we ever do really know or are we constantly learning. Well worth seeing.

https://griffintheatre.com.au/whats-on/sex-magick/

Photos: Brett Boardman.

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