 |
| The play runs for 2 weeks till its closing night on the 7th Feb |
Went to the preview night of 'The Unspoken Word is Joe' last week at SBW Stables Theatre and it was so brilliant! Amazing script and performance. The play was sold out during Melbourne's Fringe Festival and written by the Melb rising star Zoey Dawson.
If I have to avoid giving out spoilers and maximise your enjoyment, there's really nothing I can say except that you totally need to see this. Just head on to Griffin's website here, don't even read the synopsis and go straight ahead to buy a ticket to each of your friends and family members. Even just for the sake of supporting talented Australian (female) playwright and artists. You will not regret.
 |
| Production shot |
Major Spoilers Alert:
It reminds me of Birdman, probably because of the metatheatricality but due to the advantage of being a play, in a very intimate theatre, TUWIJ successfully blurred out the line between reality and fiction. The play weaves its way through the inner-theatre and the meta-theatre as the story progresses, together with the amazing acting, it was one of the best executed metatheatre works I've ever encountered.
But of course, metatheatre wouldn't be great per se if it's just for the gimmicky dramatical effect. The play uses this technique to induce audience's personal emotions, mostly sympathy I would assume, by showing the protagonist Zoey struggling for her success in this theatre industry in its most raw and unedited state. I have been to SBW theatre a lot of times before but this was the best one that utilises its small space and non-existent stage-audience boundary to the absolute maximum.
The only thing that could be picked on is that it heavily relies on audience's unawareness of the nature of the play. It would still be a great play if the audience was aware of the metatheatricality (I'm actually going to see it again with my friends next week) but the full effect of the script would be quartered without doubt.
However all in all, full of creativity yet perfectly emotional and well executed. 8.5/10
