Cherry Smoke – REVIEW
Image: CHERRY SMOKE, Tom Dawson & Meg Hyeronimus. Photo: Abraham de Souza
Last night in Sydney the lights on Broadway got a lot brighter with the opening of the King Cross Theatre in their new location in an old bank building.
With their KXT neon proudly in place, bAKEHOUSE has chosen the 2007 American play Cherry Smoke by James McManus as their first production, and it makes for a confronting night out.
Set in the rustbelt regions of Pennsylvania the play follows four characters as they time shift between early puberty to emerging adulthood while forming bonds that oscillate between harrowing and deeply touching.
At Cherry Smoke’s centre is the relationship between Fish (Tom Dawson), an emerging boxer who has a short fuse and is prone to bleeding when hit, and his brother Duffy (Fraser Crane), who does his best to steer his brother into a focused career while acting as his cut man.
Cherry Smoke’s second thread concerns Cherry (Meg Hyeronimus) who is doing her best to find a resolution to her love for Fish that is heightened when she finds herself pregnant, while Bug ( Alice Birbara) who is Duffy’s wife, appears to be the most focused of the four as she pursues a career as a maternity nurse while working on distancing herself from Fish’s destructive streak.
Behind the disconnection of the young lives that unfold are their abusive family backgrounds and a wider societal system that is as equally dysfunctional.
Directer Charlie Vaux has realised a stripped back production that is taut in maintaining the tension between the characters and their situations.
The four young actors are proof of the depth of talent currently emerging in Sydney theatre, and in their short careers all have impressive resumes across numerous productions, including film and television.
Throughout Cherry Smoke’s 100 minutes the performers maintain a connection between their characters that has been lacking in some recent productions with more experienced actors.
Lighting director Jasmine Borovzky has taken a small rig and worked wonders with a simple and effective display that suits the staging and enhances the performances.
KXT have maintained the traverse stage that made their old location such an intimate experience and it will be interesting to see how they adapt this to more elaborate production needs.
While the premise of the play may appear to be cliched to some, this production avoids this with skilful direction and engaging performances that bring a humanity into a seemingly hopeless situation.
Cherry Smoke has had a previous run at the Old Fitz in 2009 and was first produced at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2007.
