In Steve Rogers’s play ‘Ray’s Tempest’, currently playing upstairs at the Belvoir Theatre, we come face to face with Ray Brink. The suitably named rink, is a middle aged man in crisis. He is estranged from his family, is about to lose his job, and has been told that he has six months to live. Desperate to make something of his life Ray decides to go on a bizarre reality television show called ‘The Last Wish’. This is a show where the contestants are all terminally ill and the most popular contestant at the end of the series get to have their last wish realised, whatever it may be. With the show Ray has finally stumbled on something he can succeed in however he soon finds out that doing well in a television show is much easier than winning back the love of his broken family.

Mark in ‘Ray’s Tempest’ as a highly charged family drama with exceptional production values.
First the production values. Ralph Myers two tiered set worked well as well as the sides with doors opening. All areas of the stage were used including the back of the stage area where musician Alan John worked with various instruments to add to the play’s impact. Adding further atmosphere to the production, was a constant dripping of water from the ‘roof’ verifying the difficulty of his living conditions.

There was so much going on inside the main characters that my interet never flagged. Knowing that his time was almost up Ray was determined to make contact with his old family and to make peace. His ex wife, after seeing Ray on television, wants to catch up with him again despite the anguish that it will call her. Their son, full of anger for his father leaving the marital home, wants nothing to do with him. Ray’ female boss wanted to sack him but predicatably changes her tune when Ray becomes a media celebrity.

The performances were good, led by an excellent Russell Kiefel as Ray. I do have one misgiving about the production, and that I felt director Richard Roxburgh and writer Steve Rogers missed the best ending. I felt the last bit of the play could have been cut a little, there wasjustthisnagging feeling of unnecessary dramatics taking place. Albeit for some patchy moments,’Ray’s Tempest’ was an eloquent and satisfying production.