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Canberra Today 15°/17° | Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Review: An adventurous study in naivety

“JOHNNY Castellano is Mine” is a study in naivety; a sculptural fantasia touching on inner powers through which the human body and psyche act as a conduit only to be left devastated.

 

Alison Plevey.
Alison Plevey.
Gibson’s play strips a person down to the layers below all pretence and lays bare the yearnings and magnetism that propels personal action into the realms of the grotesque. Yet in its compelling simplicity, the production maintains a beautiful aesthetic in its poetic delivery and visual display.

This achievement is the result of an effective collaboration between The Street Theatre and Canberra Youth Theatre. Karla Conway’s direction is bold, adventurous and very challenging for the lone actor, Alison Plevey. The design by Samantha Pickering is sparse yet totally integrated with the movement of the actor. Gibson’s script displays maturity and surety.

The performance style reflects thousands of isolated moments of a strain in one’s life; stopped and restarted as thoughts find physical form in photographs. This has the effect of taking the audience away from naturalistic associations and allowing personal reflections to be embedded into the experience. It goes some way towards the highest ideals in theatre while still needing time to refine itself by playing and meeting with audiences.

 

 

 

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