THEATRE: NO MAN’S ISLAND
Image: No Man’s Island sets two men (Simon Bossell and Andrew Bibby, of Neighbours fame) adrift in a jail cell, trapped as much by the grimy walls as their own demons. (AB)
No Man’s Island finds two men adrift in a jail cell, trapped as much by the grimy walls as their own demons. Tim (Simon Bossell) and Rob (Andrew Bibby) use each other’s wary but growing mateship to overcome the horrors of their shadowy histories; a son lost, a brother invented. Tim is the wiser and more cynical of the two. He knows all about “Amnesty Inter-bloody-national”. Rob, illiterate and ignorant, has his head stuck in the clouds, sweetly dreaming of heaven and pining for a childhood that never took place.
What No Man’s Island successfully conveys is the claustrophobia of this microscopic, hedged-in life, with no future and only a hellish past. There are moments of gentle humour, as they play footie with their pillowcases, shooting imaginary goals with childish glee. But the gritty, emotional elements, upon which the whole production hinges, are dealt with all the heavy-handedness of an overzealous prison guard. You want to care about their plight, but the intensity of the themes is unfortunately not matched by a truly nuanced script or direction.
June 2 – 27, The TRS Old Fitzroy Theatre, cnr Cathedral and Dowling Sts Woolloomooloo. $17-35 (with beer and laksa), 1300 438 849 or rocksurfers.org
