DIRTYLAND

Dirtyland is set in a fictionalised place, in the aftermath of a massacre. Poverty is rife and a group of teenagers are plotting an escape to the city so they can attend to a rotting tooth. The set and costume create the illusion of a dirty land perfectly. The play opens with smog thick in the air, and a dense layer of dirt on the floor and it’s hard not to feel that the squalor is seeping into your skin. The lighting design by New Yorker Ross Graham, is fabulous and adds a bit of colour to a dark and disturbing world. Even with light-hearted and humorous moments, good acting and narrative, Dirtyland comes across as an abstract story or a performance art piece. It seems to be making a social comment about something. But what? E.B. White once said, ‘Be obscure clearly,’ and this is perhaps a maxim not followed by writer, Elisa Hearst. Her script is interesting and the world she has created is unique, but audiences may leave the theatre feeling as though they have missed something and been purposely left to play guessing games.

Until May 7, New Theatre, 542 King St, Newtown, $25-30, 95193403, newtheatre.org,au