Blue Surge

Blue Surge exposes the pitfalls of the eternal search for the American dream.

 

Last Thursday I went along and saw “Blue Surge” presented by Winterfall Theatre Company. Directed by Paola Unger, this play was written by American playwright Rebecca Gilman. “Surge” is very much about the American dream, but was made accessible by its Aussie cast. It is a serious story, tempered with appealing comic relief, that gradually draws you into the lives of multi-layered characters. It is a fascinating study of the travails of two sensitive individuals who are suffering the pitfalls of an overly permissive society.

 

A note to anyone who goes there: the Theatre Husk is not easy to find. There is a tall wine cellars place on the corner of Heidelberg Road and Westfield Street, and the Theatre Husk is right next to this building. Parking in Westfield Street is a good idea. Also note that “Blue Surge” is a play for adults. There is full frontal male nudity, and implied foreplay. I’m sure that will make you all go and see it!

 

The Theatre Husk is a very intimate space.  The audience seating is arranged around a square, rather than a horseshoe, with three sides seating the audience and the fourth comprising the stage and backdrop. Each audience section gets a very different perspective. What amused me was, whilst sitting on the side facing the stage, I could see all the audience on my right side in full light.  This is not a play where the cast interact with the audience, so the actors did very well to keep their focus.

 

The story begins when two cops masquerade as clients in a “massage parlour” to expose it as a brothel. One of the cops, Doug, later begins a private relationship with Heather the prostitute. Heather is voluptuous and happy-go-lucky, and they have an easy relationship. The other cop, Curt, begins a platonic yet potentially romantic friendship with Sandy, the more serious-minded prostitute. Curt and Sandy are much more cautious people, and have their own strict personal behavioural codes. Curt’s relationship with Sandy forces him to question where his life has been going, and acknowledge who he really is.

 

Sandy and Curt are emotionally drawn to each other, but they can’t let go of what they have in their lives. Curt because, after an impoverished childhood, he is engaged to a straight-laced wealthy woman who has improved his social standing. Sandy because she is attached to her seedy lifestyle because, probably, she feels it is all she deserves.  Sandy has been crushed by the American dream because her mother, taking full advantage of the permissive American society, is an alcoholic, has been through five marriages, and is now having a go with a woman. Curt, on the other hand, has tried to free himself from his own working class past. But when he meets Sandy he realizes he is still very much one of the working class in his own mind and heart. Sandy forces him to search into his heart, and eventually he sees a complete turnaround in his life.

 

The brothel is operating in an ostensibly moral culture. There are newspaper articles declaring “save our children” from institutions like this, and a reverend “acting like Superman.” But how much Doug enjoys the brothel suggests the hypocrisy of the local law-enforcers in this culture. Doug won’t stay away from Heather, following the sting (although it should be his duty to do so, as a policeman sent to arrest her), and is disappointed when she will not perform all her whore’s tricks in their private sex life. Doug and Curt end up assisting the disadvantaged in a very different way to how they intended.

 

Trent Baker’s performance as Curt showed sensitivity and a lot of depth. Cassandra Magrath as Sandy played a very complex and inscrutable character, and she did it masterfully. Justin Hosking and Holly Shanahan gave delightful performances as Doug and Heather respectively. Doug and Heather are in there partly as comic relief, but they do have moments of drama. The harrowing assault scene, which involved Doug and Curt, was one of the most moving in the play. The two “prostitutes” contrasted very nicely. Their bodies, voices, mannerisms and vibes couldn’t have been more different. Eloise Oxer played the awkward role of Beth, Curt’s fiance. She played this role with fitting gravity, serenity and subtlety.

 

Daniel Harvey’s use of sets, scenery and costumes was very clever, especially considering the limitations of the space. I loved it how the backdrop told us we were one minute in a bar, and the next minute in a kitchen, just by opening and closing a tiny cupboard.  There was limited scenery. The scenes were changed with the subtlest of touches, and the costumes were subtle in showing the theme of the play- Doug’s “merry Kissmas” t-shirt showed a family celebrating Christmas in Kiss make-up, and Curt’s t-shirt showed a snake curling round two skyscrapers to form a dollar sign.

 

The fascinating play is just marred by one thing. Gilman hovers between verging on sentimental and being realistic, and by the end of the play, these two directions conflict terribly. It was as if she was going to write a traditional ending, and then someone pulled her up and said, “No, don’t do that! It’s not cutting edge!” The last moment, I felt, manipulated storylines, and characters, into places where they were not naturally evolving. However it was made up for by fine performers, a good production, and a very strong team effort.

 

Although it was written specifically as a comment on the American Dream, “Blue Surge” is familiar to us, too, as it is about fraught individuals in a western culture forming forbidden relationships. For all the complexity of its characters, “Blue Surge” is a very accessible story. I would see this one if you want to see a play which tells a very good story, performed by a skilled cast.