This is the situation. Laura and Roland are a happy young couple caught in a violent snowstorm in the freezing middle of nowhere. They spy lights on in a log cabin and go inside, seeking shelter from the storm.
They meet the cabin’s inhabitant, Oswald, an odd strange, middle aged hermit, once a happily married man, who has a penchant for sharpening large fishing knives at his desk, the rasping scrape of his grindstone reverberating throughout the theatre. Oswald has money however, cardboard boxes full of it, in his ominous spare room.
Oswald brokers the couple the deal of a lifetime. He promises Laura three billion Kronas for her love and Roland one billion to leave and forget her. Will the couple accept the offer, or will they try to get the hell out of there?!
The bigger question is, in which direction is THE HIGHWAY CROSSING exactly taking us? Down the road of INDECENT PROPOSAL, on the murky path of BODY HEAT? No plot spoilers here, but what I can tell you is that you are in for a surreal, creepy, provocative, funny, and always engaging ride.
There’s plenty of teasing with audience’s expectations. One particular scene comes to mind. After a violent scene is played out, we have a character come on stage and start eating pizza and announce it’s time for interval!
We are in similar territory to British playwright Joe Orton and his sharply satirical pieces on man’s greed and ambition.
Ian Sinclair’s Hobo Collective production serves the play well. Sinclair directs with succinct timing and is a revelation in the leading role, giving a striking performance of an intriguing, quirky character. His Oswald is a bit of a lone wolf, simple minded and driven. Much humour is made of Oswald’s spontaneous seizures and instant recoveries.
Hendrik Elstein and Aimee Horne give fine performances as the young couple who get much more than they bargained for after they seek shelter from the blizzard.
Sam Haft has a strong presence as the archetypal, menacing outsider.
Luke Ede’s wonderfully compact set of a log hut featuring a living room with a cot bed and a second room curtained off from it works well. The silver stove was well stoked by Oswald, and his fishing knife cut throat sharp by his incessant grinding.
A joint Hobo Collective and Tamarama Rock Surfers production, Estonian playwright Jaan Tatte’s THE HIGHWAY CROSSING, an adaptation of the great Russian writer Alexander Pushkin’s THE TALE OF THE GOLDEN FISH, translated by Hendrik Elstein and adapted by Elstein together with Duncan Graham, opened at the Bondi Pavilion theatre, Queen Elizabeth Drive on Friday 8th June and plays Tuesdays to Sundays until Friday 29th June. There is no performance on Saturday 16th June, 2012.
© David Kary
11th June, 2012
Tags: Sydney Theatre Reviews- THE HIGHWAY CROSSING, Jaan Tatte, Hobo Collective, Tamarama Rock Surfers, Bondi Pavilion Theatre, Iain Sinclair, Hendrik Elstein, Aimee Horne, Sam Haft, Luke Ede, Duncan Graham, Leila Kaawa, Sydney Arts Guide, David Kary.