The Pride

What happens when lions try to out-renovate each other? With a premise like this, The Pride is sure to be an entertaining, if absurdly bizarre production.

“I was fascinated with looking at the behaviour of lions, the structures of their families and thought ‘What happens if you overlayed those behavioural patterns on human characters?’” says writer/director Zoe Pepper. Or in other words, “What would a David Attenborough about humans be like?”

Beside the promise of anthropomorphic lions struggling with decorating dilemmas, just like any other nature doco, The Pride provokes some sobering commentary on “us” – humans. Focusing on the “takeover” – where a younger, more virile lion challenges the ageing alpha-male for his pride – Pepper found human relationships and love were just as cyclical as in the animal kingdom.

“We use love as a determining factor of why one marriage broke up and one stays together. It makes some behaviour acceptable, whereas in the lion pride, the takeover sounds brutal and kinda inconceivable in human terms. It’s not necessarily that dissimilar,” she says.

However, despite these lions committing savage and seemingly indefensible actions, The Pride is hopeful, exploring “people’s willingness to forgive and how love gives people permission to forgive terrible deeds,” says Pepper. (MT)

Mar 20-Apr 5, Bondi Pavilion Theatre, 1 Queen Elizabeth Dr, Bondi Beach, $21-35, rocksurfers.org/thepride

BY MELODY TEH