Bottom line?  You have to make your own work.  The Sydney Theatre scene is stuffed full, I see 8 shows a week and don’t get to everything!  Well done therefore, to cast and creatives of A SINGLE ACT, Pale Blue Dot Creative, playing at the Chippen Street Theatre.  There are things to say about the show as it was presented but, in general, gthey make some choices to impress.

We meet Scott and Michelle at the end of their relationship.  And the power imbalance is immediately evident as Michelle cowers and Scott explodes.  And something bad has happened to whatever pet used to be in the cage which now stands empty.  It’s a quick scene and then we meet Neil and Clea.  They have just made it home after a devastating and violent event has occurred in their city.  Relieved at being both safe, it is clear that there has been a shift in their relationship too. 

For the rest of the play we will see the latter relationship as it travels forward and we will go backwards in time with the former.  Written by Jane Bodie, A SINGLE ACT never names the event which causes the seismic shift in the two relationships but all of the audience can relate.  It’s an unnamed fear for our contemporary world.

In past productions of the play there have been problems with the set changeover from one pair to the other, I can see how it could be very clunky. This production has solved that problem by sharing a set and being very unfussy about props used and discarded lying around.  Which gives it speedy scene changes.  Good choice… check.

Next good choice, the play is age appropriate for the cast.  It’s a four hander, the characters can be easily seen as twenty somethings and costuming and set decoration can be modern.  The cast may not have completely absorbed the nuance and tension of the piece but each has a quality that will serve them well as their skills develop.

As Neil, Dominic Di Paolo puts in a good performance.  He has Neil’s diffidence if not his weak duplicitousness and his listening is very well commanded.  As Clea, Rachel Slee has diction problems and is very hard to hear for most of the show but where she does do well is in the longer speeches where there is an underlying confidence which seems to dissipate in the scene work. She does, however, bring a believability to the love between the pair.

Evan Piefke is really quite good when his character of Scott is awkward and unsure, he has a goofy charm in the late scenes, those which are actually the early scenes of the relationship.  Unfortunately Piefke’s aggressive Scott has little or no menace just volume.  Similarly, Georgia Nicholas is at her best when Michelle is a bit drunk and flirty but she gives the older, threatened Michelle too much mouse and not enough history.  A sense of the eager to please and placate of a battered woman would have served the themes better.

The director Travis McMahon understands the problems of the wide stage and has elected to put his setting quite close and moves his cast plausibly around the set.  There are a few effective ‘look-away’ moments but the slow pace wrought by the length between lines and the lack of pace is a major problem for a text which requires considerable light and shade.  The production however is well rehearsed and the cast appear to be very confident in their costume changes, use of props and their evident commitment to the project.

So, A SINGLE ACT is an uneven production but I remain impressed with their moxie, the goodwill evident in their audience and their commitment to a well chosen and rehearsed show.  Pale Blue Dot’s next show is AFTER DINNER opening late in July and I am looking forward to seeing how that work develops.  And beyond.

A SINGLE ACT , Pale Blue Dot [Facebook] is playing at the Chippen Street Theatre  until 21st July.