Festen

Festen
Dramatisation by David Eldridge
MTC at the Fairfax
Until September 23rd


I've been hanging out to see Festen since some time last year. Mate of mine up at STC told me about watching it play up there (Jeremy Sims as Christian - i think) and seeing the well healed Sydney audience sink into their chairs as the play progresses. Watching them steel themselves, "no, we can do this we can do this" and then, at a certain point in the play, deciding en masse, "nope, that's enough" and walking out.

I'm pleased to say Melbourne audiences are a damn site harder than our northern contemporaries. Not one got up and left. Not a single storm out. Yay for us. You go Melbourne.

Well, the show itself... this is the kind of work i think a flagship theatre company should be doing. We all know that it's based on the Dogma film, conversation at the party afterwards was much centered on how the anarchy of the film translated to a very still and very strong staging. Never the less, the chaos of the story still plays through and very much gets under your skin in that creepy crawly don't you just wanna take a blunt knife to humanity way.

What wonderful creatures humans are.

The return of Jason Donovan to the Melbourne stage as Christian is a delight to behold. This aint the boy next door you remember from Neighbors, this a powerful actor with a deep. deep emotional reserve whose really been to some places since Especially For You.

John Stanton, down from the original Sydney production is the epitome of the bad dad, and rightly so for the guy who played Fraser in The Dismissal. It's also really good to start seeing mates appearing on the MTC stage. Shout out to the wonderful Kat Stewart from Red Stitch and Julie Eckersley.

For me MTC's Festen justifies MTC's The Clean House.

It aint an easy ride but it must be seen.


Danny Episode