43 degrees Celsius in Sydney- a day of catastrophic fire danger- and the acutely timely opening of a new theatrical production, TINDERBOX. TINDERBOX represents Zoe Carides’s directing debut as she helms local playwright Alana Valentine’s well researched play.

In her program notes Valentine wrote, ‘fire is a compelling theatrical metaphor for the violence of change and the lonely, irrationality of adolescence and the elemental power of love’.

Her play sees her three characters- all loners and battlers in their own right- struggling with their lives. Alan Lovell plays fireman and father Tom, Benjamin Ross is his son, Ben and Natassja Djalog plays next door neighbour, Viv, who volunteers at the local history museum.

Ben makes pocket money by mowing Viv’s lawn-does he have girlfriends? Does he have any friends at all? Ben ponders as ‘eucalypts explode’, leaving whiplash patterns in the air- ‘my boundaries out of my body and into the trees’.

Young boys detained at the police station-the kids who light fires- suffer a lack of attention at home, can society be changed?!

Ben has a jerry-can of petrol…’Creeks will run like ink…like ash…flames molesting everything’.

Tom describes parenting as being like, ‘standing naked after a shower without a towel and shivering’…

Zoe Carides’s production was imbued with atmosphere with Ally Mansell’s bush setting, Benjamin Brockman’s vivid lighting and John Encarnacao’s dark jazz riffs all coming together in this intimate performance space.

Recommended, a Tredwood production, Alana Valentine’s TINDERBOX opened at the Darlinghurst Theatre, 19 Greenknowe Avenue, Darlinghurst on Tuesday 8th January and runs until Sunday 27th January, 2013.

© David Kary

10th January, 2012

Tags; Sydney Theatre Reviews- TINDERBOX, Alana Valentine, Tredwood Productions, Zoe Carides, Natassja Djalog, Alan Lovell, Benjamin Ross, Ally Mansell, Benjamin Brockman, John Encarnacao, Darlinghurst Theatre, Patrick Boland, Sydney Arts Guide, David Kary