The Dazzle – REVIEW

New independent company, Corvus Arts Theatre, present their first production, The Dazzle, at the recently opened mixed-purpose venue, Meraki Arts Bar on Oxford Street and both the production and venue are a treat to experience. 

Meraki is inside a skinny, historic, three-level building with intimate spaces for the consumption of food, drink, and culture. Their compact yet comfortable theatre, the Mainstage, is on the topmost floor, with an adjoining, vintage-styled bar and lounge, aptly named the Green Room, and perfect for pre and post performance sips and quips. 

The Dazzle was published in 2003 but is set in New York city in the early 1900s. It is based on the true story of the infamous Collyer brothers whose hoarding and eccentricity were legendary. 

Homer and Langley Collyer were siblings from a very wealthy family, who lived together in a large, four-storey brownstone mansion in Harlem, New York. Neither brother ever married or had children. After both parents died, Homer (elder by four years) and Langley became increasingly more bizarre and reclusive in their behaviour. 

Langley was often spotted walking the streets after midnight, scavenging for any detritus and tossed miscellany. Homer, who was gradually growing blind, barely left the house. Both died in the house, within a short period of each other. Their bodies were only discovered by chance, Homer’s when a neighbour reported a suspicious odour, and Langley, once authorities started removing the incredible amount of rubbish and bric-a-brac in the house. 

Had photography not yet been invented, it would be near impossible to convince anyone that the stories about the Collyer house were true. To even get inside, police had to break a second story window.

Once in, they had to navigate tunnels built through floor-to-ceiling rubbish. Among items removed from the home were: baby carriages, rusted bicycles, old food, utensils, a collection of guns, glass chandeliers, bowling balls, camera equipment, the folding top of a horse-drawn carriage, more than 25,000 books, human organs pickled in jars, eight live cats, the chassis of the old Model T, hundreds of yards of fabric, clocks, fourteen pianos (both grand and upright) as well as many other musical instruments, decades-old bundles of newspapers and magazines, and thousands of bottles, tin cans and random junk.

Around 140 tonnes of rubbish was eventually removed and the neglected building had to be demolished. 

Richard Greenberg’s play, however, doesn’t focus on the sensational details of this story. The Dazzle is instead, an insightful, sensitive observation of mental illness and brotherly love. The action in the play takes place before the brothers had descended into their extreme behaviour.  The drama is speculative, since very little was known about the real Collyers. 

Steve Corner plays Homer Collyer, the elder, seemingly more rational brother. Corner is a solid, imposing figure with wavy ginger hair and an histrionic manner that is at once pompous and endearing. 

Alec Ebert is the awkward, fidgety, Langley, a kind of sauvant who plays concert-level piano, tinkers with electronics and can stare fixedly at an inanimate object for hours. “The dazzle” in the title is a reference to the shiny objects that have always absorbed Langley’s focus. 

Greenberg introduces a third fictional character, Millie, played in this production by Meg Hyeronimus. Millie is wealthy, shamelessly flirtatious, and very self-assured, at least, that’s how she projects. Her story arc has the most amplitude, taking us to unexpected places. 

The dialogue is fast and snappy, peppered with surprise punchlines and Wilde-like ironic observations. The three actors have good rapport with each other and never miss their beats. 

Special mention to Aloma Barnes for the clever set and costume design. The props, furniture and costumes are all in red, black or earth tones, giving a kind of sepia feel overall. With very limited space, Barnes creates an immersive, single room environment that suggests the incongruous claustrophobia of the large mansion.

Also worth noting is the sound design which includes selected piano pieces and waltzes from Chopin. The music works well at establishing tone and sentiment. 

This is an intriguing story, well performed in a hip new venue. Definitely worth a night out. 

*CONTENT WARNING: Mental illness/trauma (includes anxiety, panic disorder, social phobia, staging of meltdowns and sensory overload), themes of emotional and physical abuse, sexual assault (offstage)

Until December 3 (Tuesday – Saturday)

Meraki Arts Bar, 231 Oxford St, Darlinghurst 

meraki.sydney/whats-on/