[usr 4]
Sydney has some great fringe theatre venues. One of them is 107 Projects, 107 Redfern Street, Redfern.
107 Projects is a creative arts space with a small, hippy warehouse feel about it. There is a little ‘cafe’ on your right when you enter which sells some great pastizzis and drinks but sadly no coffee.
I grabbed a seat and looked around at the space and some of the paintings on the walls. Before I knew it, we were called into the theatre, a small venue, seating about forty people, with a quaint stage area and a small lighting rig above.
The stage was made up to be the living room of an apartment circa early 20th century. The detail was excellent.
The play begins and we are very soon subsumed in the world of the larger than life character of Dorothy ‘Dottie’ Levitt, born in Middlesex in 1982 and who died in 1922.
Only in her twenties Dottie has made a unique name for herself in British society as being an award winning racing car driver as well as being a journalist, author, and as folklore has it, she also taught Queen Alexandra and the Royal Princesses how to drive. She was the epitome of a feisty, independent woman of her time.
Dottie was, no doubt, excellent, a veritable legend, behind the wheel but she wasn’t too good in navigating relationships. The play takes us inside her cluttered apartment and the people that she most shares her life with, Bella and Winnie.
Experienced director Cam Turnbull helms this latest play by Mark Langham and has come up with a clear, evocative production.
Turnbull’s creative team created the right environment for the actors to work in; lighting designer Jasmin Borsovszky, movement director Erica J Brennan, sound designer= Alexander Lee-Rekers costume designer Bella Saltearn and Hannah Taylor’s set design.
I enjoyed Mark Langham’s writing. Langham is a talented, prolific playwright whose first performed play ‘Nothing’ won a 2011 National One Act Play competition, and who has built a list of credits since then. Langham clearly has relished writing about such a colourful, interesting character. The writing is taut as the three characters struggle with each other.
The three performers give memorable performances. Lib Campbell gives a fierce, compelling performance as Dottie Levitt. Her Dottie runs hot, cold, selfish and self destructive, and is a lightning rod for our attention.
There’s a lot going on inside Dottie’s friend, Bella Savory, and Zoe Crawford conveys this well, in a finely textured performance. There is the desire that Bella has for Dottie, but there is also a lot more between them.
The scene towards the end of the play when Belle contemplatively looks out the window with the light falling on her, after she has argued with Dottie, is terribly sad and, for me, is the scene of the play. Clare Hawley’s photo of Bella, which is the featured photo to this review, goes some way to conveying the lyricism of this scene.
Alexander Spinks gives an understated, well measured performance as Selwyn ‘Winnie’ Edge who loves Dottie but can’t contain her wilful nature.
THE WOMAN AND THE CAR is the first production to be staged by Ship’s Cat Theatre Company, a new independent theatre company in Sydney which focuses on female stories whilst embracing and experimenting with theatricality, showcasing emerging local creatives from all walks of life.
A Ship’s Cat Theatre Company production, Mark Langham THE WOMAN AND THE CAR is playing 107 Projects, 107 Redfern Street, Redfern until the 18th December 2022. Running time 80 minutes. There is plenty of street parking available in the area.
Production photography by Clare Hawley.
https://www.shipscattheatreco.com