Review: The Aliens
Set in the grubby backyard of a coffee shop in Vermont, two professional slackers sit to discuss matters as weighty as ex-girlfriends, the novel they’ll never finish writing, and their rock band that never really made it. Into their midst walks a 17-year-old kid working a summer job at the café whose world will be completely changed.
The Aliens is the breakthrough play by Pulitzer Prize winning writer Annie Baker (The Flick), currently one of the hottest young playwrights in New York. It’s easy to see why.
Tender and funny, her play is finely and precisely detailed, with every ‘um’, ‘ah’ or awkward pause carefully written into the script. The cast rise brilliantly to the challenge with warm and engaging performances – none more so than James Bell who is mesmeric yet understated as ‘the kid’.
Australian born and New York based director Craig Baldwin has put together a fine play taking the natural rustic intimacy of the Old Fitz and pushing it even further with on-stage seating. The effect is to give the audience a sense of immersion in not only the action but even the psyche of the players. “There is a craving for plays that are a little edgier than the mainstream,” explained Baldwin. “I think Sydney has a more adventurous audience that want to go out and see something different.”
Until September 19 (Tues – Sat 7:30pm, Sun 5pm). Old Fitzroy Theatre, 129 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo. $32. Tickets & info: oldfitztheatre.com or 0422198955.
