David Kary

THOMAS MURRAY AND THE UPSIDE DOWN RIVER @ SBW STABLES THEATRE

Stables
Francesca Savige, Grant Cartwright and Bjorn Stewart in Thomas Murray and the Upside Down River. Production photography by Robert Catto

THOMAS MURRAY AND THE UPSIDE DOWN RIVER, the new play by Reg Cribb, best known for his play cum film Last Cab To Darwin, is a love triangle set on the drought stricken Murray River.

Chris Bendall is the director in the play’s premiere production at the inner city SBW Stables Theatre. In his director’s note in the program Bendall wrote ‘some plays stay with you  and you just can’t let them go. I was hooked from the very first scene. Before I had finished reading it I knew I had to direct it.’

With a great team working with him Bendall has come up with a memorable, noteworthy first production.His is quite an achievement- making an epic play work on the tiny Stables stage.

His creative team: set and costume designer Dann Barber, lighting designer Alexander Berlage, and sound designer Kingsley Reeve come up with a very realistic, credible world for the actors to weave their magic in.

Bendall’s production features very fine productions from his cast.

Grant Cartwright gives a strong performance in the lead role. It’s a considerable journey that he goes through. His family have been farming the land along the Darling River for five generations. The farming life is the only life that he’s ever known.

Times have been particularly tough for Tom. Drought conditions are worse than ever and he is struggling to survive. Lucy, an old flame comes back into his life, passions are reignited only to see an old friend Billy turn up who draws Lucy away from him.

Family secrets come up during the play which make Tom’s struggles even tougher.

Francesca Savige is a delight as the high spirited, very mixed up Lucy as is Bjorn Stewart as Tom and Lucy’s very cool, unflappable friend, Billy.

Rounding out the cast, Nicholas Papademetriou and Vanessa Downing gave excellent comic performances as two very bemused tourists, who see their view of Tom and Lucy’s country retreat turned upside down.

Reg Cribb’s THOMAS MURRAY AND THE UPSIDE         DOWN RIVER played the SBW Stables theatre, 10 Nimrod Street, Kings Cross between the 13th and the 30th January.