Theatre / “I Have No Enemies”, Bare Witness Theatre and Arts Capital. At The Ralph Wilson Theatre, until March 11. Reviewed by JOE WOODWARD.

HOW might theatre deal with complex and highly political and social issues and keep an audience’s attention over two hours of performance? 

Bare Witness Theatre has taken up the challenge of presenting a highly researched and very detailed study on surveillance as experienced through the development of the internet. 

To achieve this aim, artistic director Christopher Samuel Carroll and the company of Rachel Pengilly, Brendan Kelly and Ash Hamilton have incorporated references to popular movies of the ’90s and used very specific digital production elements from Chloe Brett and Brad Moss at SilverSun Pictures.

Most importantly, they utilised a very physical style of presentation that was at once compelling while reminding their audience that this is just a play; yet the situation is real!

The production requires an intelligent and perceptive audience to share in the stage adventures. The actors do all they can to entertain, enlighten and engage with the audience. Use of irony and self-effacing quips remind us of the vulnerability of theatre and artists tackling enormous issues that most would rather ignore. 

The intimacy of The Ralph Wilson Theatre provides for a workshop environment where the audience can eavesdrop on the characters while being invited to witness the act of eavesdropping in a more sinister form via hacking and sanctioned surveillance of them all. 

The vocal skills of the actors and the ensemble playing mostly kept the production flowing. Carroll’s use of accents was something not seen in his previous works on the stage. At the beginning of the show, his voice was so transformed as to be unrecognisable. Vocal playing allowed for an effective breaking out of character and into direct contact with the audiences as the real actors and not simply the characters they played.

Bare Witness have created a most worthwhile and timely theatre production that utilises the theatre devices pioneered by Bertolt Brecht and Erwin Piscator. Over the decades a number of Australian companies such as CMI and The Popular Theatre Group have explored theatre giving vent to issues of deep social and political concern. Bare Witness provides theatre that is immediate, necessary and maintains a sense of its own limitations.

The length of the work is an issue that might be addressed. While some repetition of central illustrations of the themes is necessary, there is room for sharpening some sections of the play and removing any cluttering elements. 

With the assistance of the audience over the season, such work consideration will no doubt evolve. As the company states, the audience plays an integral role in a theatre that bears witness to the contemporary social and cultural milieu. Highly complex issues are faced by everyone in the audience and their attention to the details of the work. Bare Witness Theatre has provided the platform for exploration and shared adventures between actors, technicians and audiences.