Matters of life and death, no less, stir the pot of Noel Hodda’s IN THIS LIGHT.
A triptych tale of art, family, the passage of time, loss and reconciliation, IN THIS LIGHT begins years ago with a young Australian with a camera, Peter, embarking on an adventure in Paris and ends with a Parisian, Clare, finding her way to Australia, closing the circle on a generational fault line.
Gallery spaces both in Paris and Canberra are central settings in the play, with various characters encountering art in deeply affecting ways. It’s interesting the paintings that evokes passion and conversation are classic and traditional, from the Mona Lisa to Van Gough’s Wheat Field with Crows to La Liberte Guidant Le Peuple, because Mr. Hodda’s play works in avowed avoidance of the abstract.
IN THIS LIGHT is about us, about real people, and the relevance of human experience to our lives. The fears, the failures, the fragility, the pains and the pleasures. Love and death are centre points, two of life’s constants. Quality of life and dignified dying are prominent plot points, as are romance, regret, and remorse of the past tempered by the redemption and regeneration of the future.
With a six strong ensemble – Omray Kupeli, Tom Cossettini, Sophie Gregg, Kate Bookalil, David Woodland and David Adlam -IN THIS LIGHT is a play that supplies nourishment as well as entertains, with representational drama and comedy that stubbornly and unabashedly delights in the physical reality of the actors.
Design by Angelian Meany is a master class in simplicity, with walls adorned with art, then stripped, and frames becoming windows, all subtly augmented by Grant Fraser’s lighting design and Jeremy Ghali’s sound design, which invariably wins out against the Flightpath Theatre’s natural aural adversary of aviation sonics.
Des James’ direction is clean and crisp, creating a fluidity of stage craft that keeps the myriad of vignettes flowing and engaging.
IN THIS LIGHT plays at the Flightpath Theatre, Addison Road, Marrickville, until 19th November 2022.
Production photography by Robert Catto:
http://robertcatto.com/